Outrider
by Unknown Soldier Shadow
Summary: Selena Clark enters Hearthome's Golden Star Conference to prove to her controlling mother her worth as a Pokémon trainer. But what happens when one of the judges, a handsome young rock star, takes unusual interest in Selena and her team?
1. Chapter 1

"Go, Mightyena! Dark Pulse!" Selena Clark called to her Pokémon as she pointed at the opposing trainer's Pidgeotto.

The brisling Dark Pokémon stepped forward towards the Pidgeotto, his mouth already open and glowing from the charge of energy. With a snarl, he shot the blast directly at the Flying-type, hitting it squarely on the chest.

The Pidgeotto let out a startled squawk, flittering its wings to keep its body aloft.

The other trainer, a red-haired boy around seventeen, let out a low curse. "Wing Attack!" he ordered.

The foe Pidgeotto let out a twittering call as it flew low over Mightyena's head, its wings spread and poised to launch a whirling tempest at Mightyena.

_Just a little closer, _Selena thought, her eyes narrowed in concentration.

The Flying-type let out a trilling, "Pidgeooo!" as it pulled its wings back to gather wind.

"Now, Mightyena!" Selena cried. "Use Bite!"

At once, Mightyena sprang into the air and sank his teeth into the Pidgeotto's thick, tawny feathers. The Pidgeotto shrieked in surprise and spun out, losing the air from beneath its wings and falling awkwardly to its side. Mightyena padded up and placed his paws on either wing, pinning the enemy Pokémon to the hard ground.

"Enough!" the boy called, rushing up and knocking Mightyena off of the bird. He scooped the injured Pidgeotto into his arms and back up. "You win, Selena," he said wearily.

Selena grinned. "I always do, Aiden," she retorted. "No one can beat us, huh, Mightyena?"

Mightyena turned his face towards her and let out a happy grumble. Selena ruffled the fur in between his ears like she knew he loved. Mightyena closed his eyes and let out an appreciative growl.

"Selena Clark!" a voice called angrily.

Selena sighed and turned to face the familiar voice. "Hello, Mr. Adams," she said coolly. "How are you today?"

"You know you aren't supposed to be having battles, Miss Clark," Mr. Adams said, completely ignoring Selena's comment. He glanced over at Aiden and the knocked-out Pidgeotto, running a hand through his graying hair. "This is the second time this week!"

"Well, he wanted a rematch," Selena pointed out, trying hard to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "He's the one that asked for it—me and Mightyena only delivered."

Mightyena gave a grunted affirmative and leaned into Selena's leg, watching the exchange with wide red eyes. He curled his lip just a bit, but it was enough to expose his sharp teeth.

Mr. Adams saw this with unfazed eyes. "Call it back," he ordered.

Selena stifled the urge to roll her eyes, reaching into her back pocket to pull out a handful of walnut-sized Pokéballs. She selected one that had a dark cloud sticker on the front, pressing the small white button in the center of the ball. Immediately, the Pokéball expanded into the normal size. Pointing it at Mightyena, Selena said, "Return!" The familiar beam of red light surrounded Mightyena in a glowing halo, receding quickly as Mightyena entered the Pokéball.

Mr. Adams watched with crossed arms and a tapping toe. "If I catch you battling on school grounds again…" He let the threat hang in the air.

"Okay." She did her best to sound contrite, hanging her head and avoiding eye contact, all the while snickering softly to herself. "You won't catch me again."

Obviously not hearing the double meaning in her words, Mr. Adams nodded stiffly and walked away back towards the school building.

Selena turned immediately when he left and faced Aiden. "Well, kid? You want to go another round?"

Aiden glared at her with dark blue eyes. "No," he grumbled through gritted teeth. "You've wiped out my team again."

Selena laughed, running a hand through her curly, dark brown hair. "Again, for sure, and yet, you still come back and try to challenge me." She narrowed her eyes at him. "So, kid?"

"Don't call me 'kid'," he snapped. "You're the same age as me!" He pulled out a Pokéball and sent Pidgeotto inside.

Selena shrugged, lifting her hands in the air in a mock-placating gesture. "Sure, sure," she chuckled. "I wouldn't want to upset you." She reached into her pocket and pulled out Mightyena's storm cloud Pokéball. She flipped it into the air and released him.

Mightyena shook out his black fur and padded up to Selena, letting out a crooning growl. She rested her hand on his head and murmured, "You did well today, bud."

Aiden looked at her with incredulous eyes. "Don't you know the meaning of 'school rules?'" he demanded.

Selena looked up, surprised. "What are you getting at?" she hedged. "Teacher-man is gone, kid. Mightyena doesn't like to be in his Pokéball." Mightyena barked out an affirmative.

Aiden looked at them incredulously. "Well, I have to go," he said, rudely shoving past her and out onto the street.

Mightyena snarled low in his throat and crouched down to give chase, but Selena put her hand on his shoulders. "No point, bud," she said gently to him. "He's done for today—we'll have to find you some new game."

Mightyena let out a depressed sigh, and Selena laughed and hugged his neck.

"Come on, then. Let's go get a snack!"

With Mightyena padding alongside her, Selena dropped her hands into her jacket pockets and flung her hair behind her, keeping a carefully-composed blank face. She knew that people would give her strange looks with such a fierce-looking Pokémon walking with her, but she didn't care. Selena liked to appear tough, which was why she loved to train strong Pokémon and raise them to be the most powerful they could be.

She cast her dark green eyes around Hearthome City as she walked to her favorite small park. A cluster of girls were squealing excitedly over a new Contest dress that one of them had—swooning over the pink satin and watching the girl hold it up to herself with envious eyes.

"Pathetic," she spat to herself. "Fawning over that lame dress like total idiots." She shook her head, clucking her tongue in disgust. "We'll stick to battles any day, huh, Mightyena?"

Mightyena looked up with bright red eyes. He let out his familiar crooning growl at Selena's words.

Looking back at the girls, Selena saw the dress's owner pull out a Pokéball and send out a fluffy pink Clefairy. The girl squealed again and scooped up the little Pokémon, comparing the color of its fur with the color of the ruffled dress.

"Pathetic," Selena repeated as she turned away. "Who would want a Clefairy when they could have a Charizard, or a Salamence, or—"

Mightyena let out a sharp growl.

Selena looked down at him softly. "Or a Mightyena," she added.

Mightyena closed his eyes, pleased.

Selena chuckled and reached into her backpack, shifting aside the piles of loose papers to grab an apple from the very bottom. She plucked scraps of paper off of it, and sat down on a nearby bench to relax and enjoy the taste of the apple. "Here, bud, you want a piece of—"

"Hey, you!"

Selena ignored the voice, presuming the bubble-headed girls were talking to someone else. She dug her fingernails into the skin of the apple and tried to pry it in half.

"Hey, you with the Mightyena!"

Selena turned and saw the trio of girls glaring at her—even the Clefairy was sneering. "What?" she demanded.

The girl with the dress—a dark-haired girl with pale eyes—was obviously the leader of the group. "Where you laughing at my dress?" she demanded, the other two coming up to flank her in bristling line of beribboned toadies.

"No," Selena said coldly, turning away from them and adjusting the collar of her black jacket.

"I saw her," one of the toadies stage-whispered. "That's why I pointed it out to you, Jessica."

The first girl, Jessica, turned back to Selena. "I asked you if you laughed at my dress. Well? Did you?"

Selena turned to face them for the first time. "I didn't laugh at your stupid dress," she snapped. "Leave me alone!" Mightyena snarled at her feet, accenting her words with a more dangerous threat.

Jessica looked down at him with narrowed eyes. "Is your little doggie there ever in any Contests?" The toadies twittered in the background, covering their faces with pink-polished fingernails.

Selena turned away again with a soft laugh. "Leave me alone," she repeated. "I wouldn't allow my Pokémon to take place in a contest. How humiliating." She chuckled.

The bubble-heads gasped. "You can't talk to Jessica like that," one of them hissed. "She's the Contest Queen!"

"Good for her." Selena stood up, feeling irritated at the interruption to her relaxation. "Now if you'll excuse me…" She sidestepped the trio of girls and began to walk towards the park again.

"Hey! Let's settle this!"

Selena turned around and saw Jessica motioning her Clefairy forward, its little face pinched with malice. "My Clefairy against whatever one you decide."

"Are you serious?" Selena felt like her eyes were going to pop out of her head. "You want to battle me?" Was she going crazy, or did this poor bubble-head really think could beat Selena?

"One-on-one," Jessica practically snarled. "If you win, I'll let this slide. But if I win…" She trailed off, a mean smile on her face.

"You don't even have to think about what happens if you win," Selena hissed, reaching into her back pocket for a Pokéball. "'Cause I'm going to crush you!"

"Ooh," the toadies squealed again. "Tough words."

Selena ignored them, looking carefully at the Pokéballs and selecting one with a volcano sticker on the front of it. She expanded it and held it ready.

"What is that? You're not going to use your doggie?" Jessica sniped, but her eyes were worried.

"He actually just battled another _real _trainer." Selena laid thick emphasis on the words. "He deserves a break." She twisted her head to look at him. "You don't mind, do you, bud?"

Mightyena let out a short growl and sat back on his haunches to watch.

Selena turned back and brushed a hand across the face of the gleaming red-and-white Pokéball. Then with a flick of her wrist, she threw it into the air, calling, "Go!"

With a snapping sound, the Pokéball burst open and released a jet of red light. Selena caught the ball when it bounced back on the rebound, a smug smile on her face when the bubble-headed girls saw the newly-released Pokémon.

Houndoom shook his head, fluffing out his short black fur, curling his lip as he looked at the Clefairy in front of him. He snorted, letting out a jet of fire that seared the short grass at his paws.

"Ready?" Selena asked Jessica, mock-sweetly.

Jessica tore her eyes from the Fire-type and yelled, "Clefairy, Double Slap!"

The pink Pokémon lunged forward, connecting its front paw with Houndoom's face, eliciting a loud smack that resounded against the brick wall behind the battle.

Houndoom looked shocked as the Clefairy struck again, slapping Houndoom's other cheek before leaping back. He let out a grunt of surprise and shook his head, flinging his curved horns and flicking his triangle-tipped tail. He looked at Selena with astonishment.

"Houndoom, use Ember!" Selena pointed at the Clefairy—no bigger than a soccer ball to Houndoom's massive frame.

Houndoom looked confusedly from Selena to the foe Pokémon.

Selena pressed her palm against her forehead as Houndoom stared back and forth. _Why did I use him? _she wondered angrily. _He's not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. _"Houndoom, Ember!"

Houndoom let out a startled grunt and faced the Clefairy again, opening his mouth and aiming a short breath of flames towards the pink Normal-type. The fire singed right through the short pink fur, making Clefairy squeak in pain.

"Good!" Selena was pumped now—the thrill of battle sent the adrenaline pumping through her veins like nothing else. "Now grab it with Bite!"

Houndoom whirled on the Clefairy, which was too distracted by cinders on its fur to notice him, snapping at its fluffy tail. Houndoom lifted the pink Pokémon in the air, twisting his head to whip it around his head like a lasso, before finally releasing it and sending Clefairy soaring into the brick wall. It crumpled down the wall with a dizzy mutter.

"How could you?" Jessica raced towards her defeated Pokémon, picking up the mumbling Clefairy with a look of rage on her face. "Cheater!"

Selena ignored her, running her fingers over the rib-like protrusions on Houndoom's back. "You did a great job, buddy," she whispered, leaning in to hug him. "You really trashed that little pink rat."

"Don't talk about him like that!" the trio of girls wailed as they clustered around the downed Clefairy. They shot Selena and Houndoom dirty looks.

Suitably happy, Selena readjusted her jacket and picked her bag back up. She dusted off the front of her jeans and plucked her apple out of the pack again. "You want a piece, Houndoom?"

Houndoom let out a happy howl, leaning up to sniff the apple. Suddenly he drew back, his nose twitching. He heaved in a breath, then paused.

"Oh no," Selena muttered, wincing and pulling away but it was too late.

Houndoom let out an enormous sneeze, sending the apple whirling out of her hand and onto the grass, where it smoldered weakly. Houndoom looked up at her with apologetic red eyes.

"Just what I wanted," Selena chuckled. "A flaming apple." She shook her head, pulling out Houndoom's Pokéball and clicking it open. "Return, Houndoom."

Houndoom's silly, dog-like grin was still on his face as he dissolved into red light.

"This isn't over!" Jessica called shrilly as Selena moved away, Mightyena at her side. "We'll beat you next time."

"Sure, sure," Selena laughed softly. "That's what they all say."


	2. Chapter 2

**Yaaaay! So someone (-coughFwirlcough-) finally decided to load up the next words for chapter two of the fic contest. They are:**

_Bananas_

_What is this craziness?_

_Wolf's Rain_

_Lizard_

_Abacus_

_Beach_

**So here we go! This is where the plot begins...kinda. Yay!**

* * *

Selena sighed as she stood in front of the wrought-iron gates that lead down the path to the massive house. She fidgeted and hesitated, running her fingers up the bars distractedly.

Mightyena let out a grumble and nudged her legs, his red eyes irritated.

Selena stroked his furry ears, smiling slightly. "I know, I know," she murmured. "I don't really want to go." Sighing again, she hefted her backpack higher on her shoulder and pressed a call button on the side of the tall brick wall. "It's me."

"Okay! You can come in now, Miss Selena!" the box squawked, the light on the side turning to the bright green color.f

The gates swung open with barely a squeak and Selena stepped in, a scowl on her face when she looked at the house in front of her. It was mostly red brick, but cobblestones ran up the sides at the corners, framing the house in dark tan and beige. The house towered three stories before reaching a Spanish tiled-roof decorated with a spinning weathervane in the shape of a Wingull. A smaller guest house sat to the side of the main house, the walls covered in tangled ivy.

The walk to the house was relatively short. A bright green lizard dashed in front of the path, taking off in the same second at the sight of Mightyena. Selena laughed as he tried to catch it, scrabbling at the ground with his claws. He returned empty-pawed and shook out his fur, his eyes disdainful.

"Selena darling!" A woman dressed in a blue-silk dress patterned with white flowers came floating down the stairs gracefully. Selena stifled a groan as the woman embraced her.

"Hello, Mother." Selena endured the hug, knowing when she pulled away that she would get a clothing critique.

Her mother, Katherine, pulled back to look at her critically, her eyebrows arched. "Why do you like to wear such plain clothes?" she asked, fingering the smooth cloth of Selena's black jacket. "Why didn't you wear that blouse I picked out for you this morning?" she demanded. "I ordered it specially for you! It came all the way from Kanto!"

Selena pictured the blouse in question in her mind: a frilly, lacy pink thing. It had quickly found its way deep into the closet with the rest of the clothes her mother bought her. "I didn't see it," she lied smoothly, dropping her hand to Mightyena's head.

Katherine followed the gesture with a slight frown. Her mother didn't approve of her only child training Pokémon out in the wild. "Why don't we go inside? I just made some lemonade." She turned around without another word, and Selena fell in step behind her dutifully.

Another older woman opened the door and held it, allowing Katherine to walk in. "Hello, Miss Selena!" she greeted with a smile. "How was school today?"

Selena grinned at her. "It was fine, Maria," she answered.

"I heard you got in trouble battling again," Katherine called over her shoulder. "Maria, get some glasses down for us."

"Yes, ma'am." Maria went off towards the kitchen and soon disappeared.

Katherine flopped down into one of the soft white sofas that filled the wide, white-tiled space. "I don't know what to do with you, Selena," she sighed. "I told you that I don't approve of your battling. It's so uncouth."

"I'm just having some fun, Mother." Selena hung her backpack on the rack by the door and stepped over to sit in her favorite armchair by the fireplace. She ran her fingers over the marble carvings of rare Pokémon that adorned the smooth stone as her mother went on.

"Honestly. When I was your age, I was already one of Sinnoh's most famous Coordinators. They used to come from miles around to see me and my Delcatty show our stuff." She nodded to the curio cabinet behind her chair where a line of photographs and Contest ribbons lined the shelves. A large picture of a younger Katherine beside the cat-like Pokémon sat before all the others. In the picture, her mother, with one arm around Delcatty, displayed a large, overly-ornate blue Contest ribbon with a smug look on her face.

Selena sighed loudly; she had heard this story too many times before. "I don't want to be a Coordinator, Mother. I've told you that."

"But I don't understand why!" Katherine shook her head, lifting a pink-nailed hand to her head. "Maria!"

"Here, ma'am." Maria came scurrying in with a tray of glasses. "Sorry, sorry."

"It's fine, Maria." Selena glared at her mother. _She's so rude--she doesn't even seem to care! _

Taking the glass, Katherine sighed loudly. "Get me something for my head, will you?"

"Right away. Here's yours, Miss Selena." Maria's eyes were kindly as she handed the lemonade over.

"Thank you, Maria," Selena said warmly. "You're so kind to us." After she had gone again, Selena turned to her mother. "Honestly, Mother!"

Katherine moved her hand from her face, surprised. "What?"

Selena turned her face away, annoyed with her mother's obvious lack of feeling towards her maid. "Nothing," she spat. She had experienced enough arguments with her mother to know it just wasn't worth it--Katherine wouldn't acknowledge that anything was wrong with her way of speaking down on people.

"Don't take that tone with me," her mother replied, just as snappish. "You just wait until your father gets here. I've already called him at work and told him all about your behavior." She sipped at her lemonade daintily, her eyes sharp over the glass.

Mightyena rolled his eyes and pressed his back against Selena's knees. He let out a crooning growl as he looked up at her.

"Why do you let it just walk around with you?" Katherine asked, gesturing towards Mightyena with one hand. "What do you think Pokéballs are for, huh? I keep mine put away all the time except for practice and mealtimes." She motioned towards a side table where polished Pokéballs sat in special holding cases.

"Mightyena likes to be out," Selena explained. She smiled and stroked Mightyena's ears, taking another sip of her drink. "I'm going to go do my homework," she announced, turning back to the rack to get her backpack. "I'll be in my room."

"Fine by me," Katherine said, placing her other hand over her eyes. "I have a massive headache."

_Yeah, and you're good at giving them, too, _Selena thought darkly. Starting to go up the stairs, Selena ran her hand down the polished oak banister and tried to calm herself down after another irritating encounter with her mother. Try as she might, Selena just couldn't relate to her--they had almost nothing in common. Katherine loved Contests while Selena preferred battles; her mother adored people listening to her and complimenting her, while Selena wanted to just stay in the background.

Mightyena rushed ahead and shoved open the door, running through the dark blue-painted room and leaping onto the window seat to look outside. He turned to look at her with bright eyes, and wagged his thick black tail.

Selena dropped her bag by her desk and started her computer--a computer that made most look as simple as an abacus, her father insisted--then turned and flopped onto her bed. She stared at her ceiling blankly, wondering how she could ever survive in this place for the rest of high school. Rolling onto her side, she fished out the Pokéballs from her back pocket and shuffled through them.

Mightyena came over to watch curiously as she pulled herself into a cross-legged position and spread them out on her blue quilt. He rested his chin on the edge of her bed and nudged his own Pokéball with his snout.

"Yes, that's yours," Selena murmured, pulling it out of his reach. "Here's Houndoom's"--she put the volcano-stickered Pokéball next to Mightyena's--"Lairon's"--she pulled a Pokéball with a cartoony wrench sticker on the front--"and here is the newbie!"

Mightyena let out a rumbling growl as Selena lifted the Pokéball into the air to catch the light off its shiny surface. Seeing his reaction, she laughed and tousled the fur on his head. "Are you jealous, bud?"

Mightyena averted his gaze and grumbled.

Selena grinned and turned back to the Pokéball in her hand. She clicked it to the full size and pointed the beam into the clear space of her floor. "Come on out!"

A small orange shape appeared on the smooth white carpet, resolving quickly into a Trapinch. It blinked its small black eyes confusedly as it looked around the room, snapping its huge jaws nervously.

Moving slowly, Selena pulled herself off the bed and onto the floor, keeping her eyes locked on Trapinch. She crept closer, all the while talking in a slow voice. "Hi, little guy," she murmured. "You're very pretty. Very cute."

Trapinch looked at her curiously, tilting its head to the side to get a better look at her. It opened its jaws and let out a squeak.

Not able to help herself, Selena swooped forward and scooped up the little Pokémon. "You're _so _cute!" She hugged the Trapinch to her.

Trapinch let out a raspy purr sound and nuzzled her arm.

Pulling the Pokémon back a little, Selena reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her Pokédex. Aiming it at Trapinch, she sent the beam straight towards the little creature.

_"Trapinch: the Sand Trap Pokémon. Trapinch are commonly found in sandy areas, where they make conical pits. Lying at the bottom of these, they patiently wait for prey."_

Clicking through the options quickly, she saw with some surprise that this Trapinch was a female. "A little girl," she said warmly as she gazed at the orange Pokémon. "You're adorable. Wait until you grow into a Flygon!" Selena got excited just thinking about the possibilities of having such a hugely-powerful Pokémon on her team. _She could even fly me places! _"Wait here--I'll go get you something to eat." She looked up. "You better watch her, Mightyena."

Mightyena nodded sleepily, his tail over his nose.

"That's not very reassuring," she muttered. Standing up, she ran her hand over Trapinch's smooth head--getting another purr in return--and set off down the stairs. Katherine was nowhere in sight; Selena assumed she was elsewhere, probably complaining or talking about herself. Sure enough, her mother's voice drifted in from the backyard terrace.

Sighing, Selena dashed into the kitchen and plucked a banana out of a fruit bowl. _This should work! _she thought happily. Turning around, she nearly crashed head-on into Maria. "S-sorry," she gasped.

Maria, startled, clutched at her heart. "Oh my. Are you okay, Miss Selena?"

"Yes, yes." She started to walk around her. "Could you possibly tell my mother that I'll be out later on? I want to go do some training in the forest."

"Of course. Is there anything else you need help with?" Maria asked.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you." She smiled slightly, trying to show Maria that not all of her family were as blunt as her mother. Dashing back up the stairs, she threw open her door and walked in to see Mightyena howling and running in circles, Trapinch latched firmly onto his tail. Her little black eyes were closed gleefully as Mightyena swung her around in circles.

"What is this craziness?" Selena demanded, setting the banana on her desk and grabbing Trapinch's stout body. Mightyena howled again and trashed around the room again. "Calm down! Trapinch, let go."

Trapinch rasped a purr and released her hold on his tail, flinging herself back against Selena. She looked up at her Trainer with bright eyes.

"Aaww!" Selena hugged Trapinch close while Mightyena huddled into a corner to sulk, flicking his tail resentfully. "You can't be biting people, okay?"

Trapinch nodded, happily closing her eyes and peeping. She wriggled free of Selena's grasp and started to waddle across the room, staring into the corners and investigating under the bed.

Selena watched her affectionately for a moment before getting to her feet and walking over to the computer. It was all warmed up now, glowing faintly in the bright light. Selena smiled slightly at the sight of her _Wolf's Rain _background before clicking into her email--only one new message. It was an ad, and she clicked on it to delete it, beginning to drag it towards the trash can icon.

Mightyena crashed into her chair and sent her spinning to the floor as he pelted by, Trapinch wobbling after him happily. Selena scooped her up quickly before she could annoy him any more, and turned back to her computer screen. Trapinch tilted her head as she looked at the screen, reaching out with a stubby leg to press on the keyboard.

"No, no," Selena protested, pushing the Pokémon out of the way before she could press any more buttons. The email had flickered open, displaying a brightly-colored flyer. Leaning closer curiously, she read the flyer aloud: "All Trainers of the Sinnoh area! The Golden Star Conference is coming soon to Hearthome City! The contest will be divided into separate age groups for the younger first-timers. The winners will receive the prestigious Golden Star badge and win an all-expenses-paid trip to Full Moon Island! Sign-ups will begin at the end of the month. Get set, Trainers!"

Mightyena padded over to rest his chin on the edge of the desk, staring up at Selena with wide eyes. He let out a crooning growl as he gazed at her.

Selena rubbed the short gray fur between his ears and smiled. "You want to go to the big battle, bud? You think we can win it?"

Mightyena nodded vigorously, parting his jaws in a wide grin. He gave a loud growl, flipping around in a circle and chasing his tail happily.

Selena laughed as she watched him, leaning back in her chair. "We'd get to go to the beach, bud! The beach!" Full Moon Island's beach was known for its smooth, soft sand beaches and sunny skies. It was such a dramatic change from the never ending hustle and bustle of Hearthome--Selena couldn't get the idea out of her head. A full paid vacation to the island!

Trapinch looked up from her sitting position by the door, her eyes bright. Opening her sharp jaws, she let out a raspy cry of curiosity.

"Yeah, plenty of sand for you to play in, baby girl. You're going to have lots of fun." Selena closed her eyes and imagined herself there now--the sand beneath her toes, the salty breeze whipping her dark curly hair, and the total peace and relaxation of being alone with just her team. "Lots of fun," she repeated softly as she moved the email to her saved folder. "Oh! I almost forgot!"

Trapinch watched with beady eyes as Selena fished around in her dresser, pushing clothes aside to search. "Here it is!" she crowed, pulling out a small metal case. She grabbed the remaining two Pokéballs off her bedside table and ran back to sit down on the floor by the orange Pokémon. "Everytime a Pokémon joins our team, I have them pick out a sticker to be on their Pokéball." She pried open the case to show Trapinch an array of shiny stickers. "Mightyena, could you get them, please?" She motioned towards the Pokéballs.

Mightyena got to his paws and padded over, pressing his nose against the button on the front of each Pokéball, releasing them in beams of red light. Houndoom immediately bounded over to Selena and began to lick her all over the face, wagging his triangle-tipped tail happily. He nuzzled her arm affectionately, giving Trapinch a curious sniff.

Lairon was slower to come--mostly because of her larger weight--but also came over and rubbed her steel-plated head against Selena's side. She settled down after nudging Trapinch's round head, resting her massive frame in the center of the white carpet.

Trapinch looked down into the case thoughtfully, tilting her head this way and that to get a better look at the small stickers. She reached out with a stumpy arm to gesture at one.

"Which one, little girl?" Selena asked, tipping the stickers onto the floor. She spread them out under her fingers--clouds, fruits, tools, claws, and many more--and allowed Trapinch to step forward and select one.

Trapinch, after spending a few more moments thinking it over, leaned down and snapped up one, turning back around to trot to Selena. She bent her head and spat out the sticker onto the ground in front of Selena. It was the earthquake sticker--a small diamond of dry, tan dirt with a jagged crack running through it.

"Good choice!" Selena peeled off the back of the sticker and placed it carefully in the center of the Pokéball, right over the small white button. "It'll fit even more when you're a Flygon!"

Trapinch purred again, and pressed her huge jaws against the ball, rolling it around the room happily. Houndoom, unable to resist any type of play, immediately joined in, wagging his thin tail to try and tempt Mightyena into the game. Mightyena yawned widely, clearly in no mood to play. He padded over to lay against Selena's leg, watching the others play with gleaming eyes. Lairon closed her eyes and began to doze, her dark gray sides moving smoothly as she breathed.

Selena rested one hand in Mightyena's dark fur and draped the other arm against Lairon's steel shoulders, feeling relaxed and completely at home with what could possibly be her only true friends.

* * *

**So that's the end of chapter two! I like how smoothly these chapters are going--even with the odd words that I have to fit into it. ^.^ I really love Mightyena, and I have to say, I would act just the same as Selena if Pokémon were real--as in, calling them affectionate names and such. I call my dogs the same things that Selena calls her Pokémon. :D**

**R&R~**

**Shadow**


	3. Chapter 3

**Urghhh! I'm so upset with this chapter--tis far too short for my liking. But, then again, today is the deadline. ^^ **

**Here be the words!**

_Burnt popcorn_

_Flaming hail_

_Who do you think you are?_

_Cheesecake_

_Did I interrupt something?_

_Head tilt_

**Enjoy~**

* * *

"Selena dear, are you really going to wear that?" Katherine eyed her daughter's clothes with a distasteful expression. "We're meeting your father's business partners, and you need to look nice."

Selena rolled her eyes, fingering the frayed edge of her favorite black jacket. Underneath, she wore a clean white shirt and beige pants. "What's wrong with this?" she demanded.

"When I said 'nice' I mean 'better than that.'" She grabbed her shoulders, wheeling Selena back around to face the deep abyss of her closet. "Now go in there and pick out something I got you." Katherine lifted a hand to the curlers in her own hair, a panicked expression crossing her face. "I'm going to overcurl it!" she wailed, racing out of the room and down the stairs to her own room on the second floor.

Fighting back an exasperated sigh, Selena dutifully shifted through the dangling clothes, grimacing at the sensation of chiffon and lace on her outstretched hands. _I hate this! s_he wanted to scream. _Let me be! I'm not you! _

"Miss Selena? Do you need help?" Maria was suddenly there, her creased face warm with affection.

"Thanks, Maria," Selena sighed. "Which of these do you think looks the nicest?" She held up a knee-length silver dress—plain, the way Selena liked dresses—and a deep purple one, fading to a lighter shade towards the bottom.

"If you don't mind me saying, I like the purple one." Maria smoothed out the ruffles at the hem, drawing the dress out onto Selena's bed. "It'll go great with that amethyst pendant your father gave you."

"I suppose," Selena grumbled, moving over to her jewelry box. Flipping open the oak lid, she shuffled through the glittering rings and twisted earrings until her hands came upon a teardrop-shaped deep purple gem on a silver chain. She grabbed the matching earrings, taking the normal plain silver hoops she wore out with the ease of long practice.

Maria already had out her short-heeled silver shoes, leaving them on the bed next to the dress. "Your mother requested that you...er, give me your Pokéballs."

Selena's jaw dropped in shock. "W-what? She did _what?_"

Maria didn't meet her eyes. "I'm sorry, Selena," she sighed. "But when your mother asks me to do something..."

_More like demands that you do it, _Selena thought darkly, but knew taking it out on Maria would accomplish nothing more than upsetting the kind old lady. "What does she think I'm going to do with them?"

"Battle, dear." Maria shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to need to take them to show your mother."

Selena turned away angrily, her shoulders tight. _Why does she have to do this? I won't do anything stupid—I'm not a child! I can handle the responsibility! _Her hand clenched over Mightyena's Pokéball like it normally did when she was stressed.

It was just like the time Selena had first come home with Mightyena—Poochyena then. She had run away from home when she was seven, trying to escape the pressure her mother inflicted on her. She had ended up lost, as children usually did when they ran away, and was crying as she wandered among the thick trees at the back of the house.

_"Mother!" she had yelled as loud as she could. "Father! Help me!" _

_But no one came to save her...no one but a little group of Mightyena. There were maybe seven or eight, all of them fully-grown adults except for a single, tiny Poochyena, barely older than a hatchling. _

_Selena had sat up quickly, her tear-filled eyes wide as the rough and rangy Pokémon came into view, their noses in the air to catch her scent. "Who...who are you? Stay back! D-don't come any closer!"_

_The leader Mightyena, a huge creature with a black patch over its eye, had looked at her curiously, its hackles raised. A growl slid between its bared teeth._

_Oh, no! She had thought she was going to die at the teeth of these big black Pokémon, never to see her parents again. As the pack moved closer, she thought that if she could go home, right this instant and take all the hassles and grief her mother gave her, she would do it in a heartbeat. She closed her eyes and tried to press herself into the damp bark of the tree at her back._

_A small, curious yip had sounded in her ear, and a gust of breath ruffled her brown curls. _

_Opening her eyes slowly, she saw with wonder that the Poochyena had come closer, its face level with hers. With another curious sound, it tilted its head slightly to one side, its tongue hanging out in a funny grin._

_She giggled despite herself, reaching out with a tentative hand to stroke the soft gray fur on its ears. It closed its eyes and let out a strange, crooning growl—a sound that Selena had never heard before. _

_She had had encounters with Pokémon before—dainty Skitty or graceful Milotic—but never something this...normal. The Poochyena was undoubtedly something her mother would call ugly and useless—a creature that didn't belong in the high society she liked to keep. "Just like me," Selena had whispered, stroking the gray face of the Pokémon._

_Poochyena growled again—a happy sound—before turning back to the pack, letting out a small whimper. The leader came forward, following after the youngest member in the group, and bent its head to sniff Selena's outstretched hand. Growling an affirmative, it pressed its nose to her forehead, barking something at Poochyena, before turning away and leading the pack into the undergrowth, leaving Poochyena with Selena alone._

_Poochyena turned to Selena with bright eyes, giving a happy yip._

_"Do...do you want to be my friend?" she had asked it, her voice quavering slightly. "I don't have any...you can be my first, okay?"_

_Poochyena closed its eyes and growled happily, stepping into Selena's lap and nuzzling her arm. _

_Selena smiled—her first real, heart-felt smile—and pressed her face into its warm, rough fur happily._

Since that day, Selena thought, she and Mightyena had never been separated. They had been a team, a duo, best friends, for ten long years. "Here," Selena said to Maria roughly, digging in her pockets for the Pokéballs, a sly smile coming across her face when she realized she still had three free ones. _No one knows about Trapinch yet, _she thought with glee. She carefully composed her face into an irritated scowl, handing over the blanks sullenly.

"I'm sorry, dear," Maria said kindly as she scooped up the balls, tucking them into her apron pocket. "Your mother makes the rules, I'm afraid."

_For now. _Selena turned to the dress on the bed, saying, "Thanks, Maria. I'll be fine on my own now. Mother gave you the night off, didn't she?"

"Yes," Maria responded happily. "I'm going to go visit a friend of mine—we're working on quilts tonights."

"Ah." Maria was very craft-oriented, making beautiful afghans and quilts with an ease that made Selena jealous. "You can go ahead. I'll meet Mother myself."

"Okay, dear. You take care."

"You, too."

As soon as Maria left, Selena pulled out her Pokéballs, counting them and making sure all four of her team were there, sighing happily when everyone was present. "That was a close one, guys," she breathed, grabbing a small silver bag to deposit them into safely. She pulled on the dress quickly, flinging the pendant around her neck and fastening it. She looked at herself in the mirror, almost laughing at how unlike herself she looked.

As she was putting on her shoes, Katherine came back in, already in a fancily-cut black dress with a string of pearls around her thin neck. "That's better now, isn't it?" she asked smugly, gesturing to Selena's dress. "Much prettier than that ratty old jacket you always wear."

"Sure, Mother." Selena moved to her dressing table, pulling out a brush to untangle her dark hair. "You look nice."

"I know." Katherine pulled the brush out of her daughter's hand, tugging it roughly through Selena's wavy hair. "Honestly, I wish you had my straight hair," she complained. "You have your father's terrible hair."

"I like my hair," she argued, wincing as her mother caught a particularly knotted lock of hair. "Besides, you liking anything about me is about as rare as flaming hail."

Katherine frowned. "That's not a very nice thing to say, Selena. I think you're very beautiful."

Sighing, Selena averted her eyes, sensing that her mother was staring a hole in the mirror. _That's not the same as loving someone. _

"Well," her mother continued, as if she hadn't even spoken, "we're going to the _Silver Lugia_. I know you like their food. They have outstanding lobster bisque and I've heard their new cheesecake is to _die _for."

"Mm." She watched as Katherine quickly styled her hair into an elegant bun on her head, her long-nailed fingers tugging through the stray hairs. She wanted to tell her mother how much she detested the restaurant, but didn't want to provoke an argument. _I think I'd rather eat burnt popcorn than lobster bisque, _she wanted to say.

"There. That look divine!" Katherine squealed. "I am such a good hair-stylist."

Selena looked blandly at the bun, tilting her head from side to side to get a better look. "It looks great, Mother."

"Of course it does! I did it, didn't I?" Katherine patted her daughter's shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, dear. I know you're nervous about meeting your father's boss, but he really is a kind man."

"I'm not worried about anything," she snapped, yanking her bag off of the bed and striding out the door, walking gracefully on her heels but wishing desperately they were her normal sandals. "Just leave well enough alone."

"Tsk! Who do you think you are, young lady?" her mother demanded, following her down the stairs with an irritated expression. "I am your mother, lest you forget!"

_And sometimes, I wish you weren't. _"Of course. I'm sorry." Selena said lie smoothly now, after so many years of repeating it. Telling her mother something she wanted to hear was as easy as breathing.

"Alright, alright. Let's just get to the car."

By "car," of course, she meant "limo." Selena slid dutifully into the back of the long, dark car, holding her purse tightly in her hands, feeling the comforting shape of Mightyena's Pokéball through the satiny fabric. The driver made quick haste, weaving down the short drive and onto the main road, making his way down the well-lit street.

Selena stared blankly out the window while her mother yammered on about nothing, watching mansion upon mansion pass by the tinted windows. _I'd give anything to be away from this, _she thought, but then the Pokéballs in her bag shifted just a little, barely enough for her to notice. Smiling slightly, she recanted: _Well, maybe not anything. _

The driver dropped them off in front of the fancy restaurant, its front lit up by a giant glittering sign with a flying Lugia on it.

"Isn't this great?" Katherine asked her, totally excited as she usually was.

"Yes, Mother," Selena replied in a deadpan voice as the doorman held the door open for them. "It's really...great."

"Selena, my gem! I was just telling George here about you!" A dark-haired man with kind brown eyes came walking up, his arms extended for a hug.

"Hello, Father," Selena greeted, giving him a soft squeeze before stepping back. She looked past her father's shoulder to see a gray-haired man with horn-rimmed glasses and watery gray eyes. "You must be Mr. Gregor. My name is Selena." She extended her hand and shook his hand, smiling wide the hole time, the way she knew her mother expected.

"Yes, Richard talks most highly of you all the time." He waved towards Selena's father, who was standing quite still near Katherine. Selena could see a tic going in his throat and knew he must be extremely nervous.

"Oh, well he speaks highly of you, too, sir." Selena absolutely hated calling anyone "sir" or "ma'am," but she knew her parents desired her to.

Mr. Gregor laughed, motioning towards the back of the restaurant. "Shall we eat? I don't know about you, but I'm rather hungry." He led the way, chatting happily to Richard.

"We need to be on our best behavior, you hear me?" Katherine smoothed the front of her dress subconsciously. "This is important to your father."

_Let's get out the mask, _she thought dully, mutely nodding to her mother. _It's not like I can be myself with my own parents or anything. That would just be too out-of-the-ordinary. _As she followed her mother, her heel caught on a crack between the tiles on the floor, knocking her off balance. She crashed into someone, her bag flying off her shoulder, spilling the contents across the floor. "I'm so sorry," she gasped, already bending to snatch at the Pokéballs spilling across the floor, knowing that her mother was watching with incredulous eyes.

"It's fine," the waiter she crashed into said quickly. "It was my fault. Are you okay..._Selena?_"

Selena looked up, her face flushed scarlet, to see Aiden—the boy she had nearly gotten in trouble for battling the previous day at school. "Aiden? What—" She looked to see him holding a bin of dirty dishes, a sopping apron tied around his waist. "You work here? Go on ahead, Mother—I'll catch up."

Katherine's green eyes were narrowed angrily, but she nodded curtly and walked to catch up with her husband, talking in a loud, false-cheery voice.

"Yeah," he answered awkwardly, not looking at her. He silently handed her a Pokéball that had rolled under his feet, his red hair ruffled. "You look...different."

She narrowed her eyes at him, snatching the Pokéball out of his hand in embarrassment. "Thanks, I guess."

"I didn't know you were rich." He stood back up, holding out a hand to help her up.

Pointedly ignoring this, Selena worriedly checked her purse, counting and recounting the balls inside. "Trapinch is gone," she nearly sobbed. "Where is she? Did you see...?" She bent down to look under the nearby tables.

"Here...here she is." Aiden handed her the dusty Pokéball, which she took in relief, looking over the red and white surface worriedly. "Are you okay? With your parents, that is?"

Selena gritted her teeth. "That's not of your business," she snapped.

His eyes widened, but a smirk was playing around the edges of his lips. "Okay, okay, then." He held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Enjoy your meal, ma'am."

"Don't call me that." The words were swift, like a reflex.

He looked surprised again, settling the bin on one hip. "I thought most people like you expected that." He waved behind him vaguely, gesturing to the clusters of tables filled with wealthy people.

"I just don't like it. It makes me feel like I think I'm something special. Which I'm not," she added quickly.

Aiden raised his eyebrows. "Don't be so sure of that. Everyone's special, you know?"

Selena dropped her gaze again, cursing herself internally for letting herself say something stupid like that. "I have to go. My...parents are waiting for me."

"Oh, did I interrrupt something important? I'm sorry." He looked rather disappointed, as if he had expected another response out of her. "I'll see you at school then, huh?" His eyes twinkled. "Maybe we'll have another battle."

Selena shook her head wearily. "Probably not," she answered.

"And why is that?"

Selena bit her tongue. _Why am I giving away all this information? _"My mother will probably make sure I don't bring them to school anymore." She shook her bag gently.

"I see." He looked past her, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You might want to go now. It looks like your mother's looking for you."

"Yeah," she agreed, seeing the furious look on her mother's pale, pointed face. "Um, bye."

"Bye." Aiden gave her a brief nod before turning around and walking back along the way he came from.

Selena watched him go out of the corner of her eyes, noticing despite herself, that he seemed like the first person to ever ask her opinion on something—a thought that filled her with a small bubble of happiness that not even her mother's cold glares could completely get rid of.

* * *

**Well, that wasn't too crappish, was it? :P**

**R&R~**

**Shadow**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wooteh! Update time!**

**This weeks words~**

_Traffic cone_

_Lame_

_Silver ring_

_Pineapple_

_Bullseye_

_Dart_

**Half picked by me and the other by Fwirl when we were coming home from seeing Transformers 2. Have you guys seen it? It was INTENSE!**

**Haha, moving on~**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"I cannot _believe _that you defied me!" Katherine was in mid-rant as the smooth, low limo made its was back to the house. "After I said specifically that you weren't allowed to bring your Pokéballs to dinner, you did so anyway!"

Selena was gripping her little silver purse so hard that her knuckles were white. "I wasn't going to battle, Mother."

"That's not the point!" Katherine snapped, her green eyes sharp. "When I tell you not to do something, I expect you to obey me. Richard, do something about your daughter," she demanded, turning to her husband.

Richard sighed, running a hand through his short wavy hair. "What do you want me to say, dear?" he asked wearily.

"Tell her to apologize! She embarrassed us in front of your boss!"

"No, she didn't," he argued. "He didn't even see her drop her bag."

Katherine let out an irritated little gasp, turning herself to completely face her husband, her curly blond hair bouncing against her cheeks.

Selena turned her face away, looking out the window at the cool night, watching traffic cone after traffic cone pass by her window in a line of bright orange. Bicker, bicker, bicker, she thought darkly, repressing the urge to cover her ears with her hands. That's all they ever did.

"It was a successful dinner, dear," Richard said blankly, his eyes on the tiny buttons of his phone as he checked his email. "George didn't think anything of it."

"I'm sure he was just too polite to," Katherine pressed, her voice shrill. "He obviously thinks we're barbarians."

"Just because I dropped my bag?" Selena finally said scathingly, still turned away so she wouldn't lose her temper.

"Don't start with me, young lady. This is the last time this is going to happen, you hear me? We're going to find other trainers that can properly take care of Pokémon. We'll drop them off at the Pokémon Center tomorrow."

Selena felt as if the ground had dropped out from underneath her. "W-what?" she gasped, feeling her hands shake. "Take them...away? You _can't!"_

"You obviously can't handle the responsibility," Katherine said loftily, getting out of the car and smoothing the front of her dress with thin fingers. "Don't you think it's only fair to them that they have the best possible care?"

"I give them the best possible care," Selena snapped, feeling more angry than she ever had before. A metallic taste coated her tongue, and her vision went red. "They're _mine. _I've had them for _years._"

"Pokémon need more attention than that. All you ever do is battle them."

"Oh, and Contests are better for them?"

Katherine narrowed her eyes. "Don't speak to me like that, do you hear me? I am your mother, young lady, and I—"

Selena let out an angry noise, shoving past her mother and up to the doorway. She wrenched open the handle just as Maria was about to. The older woman blinked from the sudden movement, murmuring, "Are you okay, Miss Selena?"

"Leave me alone!" Selena snapped, feeling the hated tears sting the backs of her eyes. She ran up the stairs, flinging herself into her room and slamming the door behind her with a ear-ringing thud.

_How can she do this to me? _Selena thought angrily, tears freely falling from her eyes. _She knows all I love in this world are them, and she wants to take that away! What's wrong with her? She's crazy! _

She bit her lip as she heard the door close downstairs. Scurrying to the vent on the floor, she pressed her ear against the cold metal, straining her ear to hear the soft conversation her parents were having.

"Don't you think you should give her some time to think about this?" Richard was saying, obviously exasperated.

"No!" Katherine's voice sounded like she was questioning her husband's sanity. "I've made my choice and she has to honor it!"

"Those are her Pokémon, dear. She caught and trained them herself."

"She doesn't have the diligence to train them," Katherine argued. "If she had been a Coordinator, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Now go and get her Pokéballs!"

"Why don't you sleep on it, Katherine?" Richard suggested. "In the morning, if you still feel this way, you can do as you like."

Katherine let out a impatient sigh, but agreed. Their voices faded as they moved to their bedroom.

Selena sat up, moving slowly like an old woman. "They'll take them," she whispered to herself, looking at the play of moonlight across the silver fabric of her purse, the slight bulge showing that the Pokéballs still rested inside.

Pulling it towards her, she dug around inside, recognizing Mightyena's Pokéball by touch alone. She ran her fingers over the smooth surface, feeling the small nicks and scratches from years of use. She pressed the button in the center and released him.

Mightyena shook his head as soon as he touched paw on the floor, looking around in slight confusion. He turned to tilt his head at Selena, an alarmed look crossing his face when he saw that she was crying. A small whimper came from his throat as he pressed his nose against her arm.

"Mightyena," she murmured, wrapping her arms around his strong neck. "What are we going to do? Mother's going to force me to turn you and the others over tomorrow."

He let out a growl—Selena could feel it rumbling through her chest.

"I know," she sighed, flicking her wrist across her eyes. "I don't want to...but if she makes me..." She trailed off, smoothing his ears and looking into his red eyes. "I won't."

She got to her feet, Mightyena's eyes following her curiously. Dusting off the front of her dress, she walked over to her closet, rummaging around inside.

"We're going to leave, bud," she whispered. "We're running away."

Mightyena let out a shocked snarl, his eyes wide. He looked up at her in confusion, his head to one side.

"We can't stay here. We _have _to be together," she said firmly. "You guys are my friends, and I'm not going to let anyone come between us. Besides, summer vacation starts in three days. I won't miss much school."

Mightyena turned away suddenly, grabbing her purse from the floor and bringing it to her. He gave a muffled growl and shook the bag slightly.

She smiled, taking it from him and running her hand over his head. "They're coming, too," she promised. "We won't tell them until we're far enough away. Do you hear Mother or Father?"

He turned to the door, leaning one ear against the dark wood. He turned back to her and growled, but the sound was easy and relaxed.

"Good, good," she muttered, pulling her backpack out of the closet. "We've never been camping before, bud. I'm not really sure what to bring." Pulling open the drawers of her dresser, she began to paw through her clothes. "Probably sturdy clothes, huh?"

Mightyena let out a crooning growl.

"I'm gonna take that as a 'yes,'" Selena said, casting a fond look back at Mightyena. She pulled out her favorite black jacket and dark blue jeans, quickly changing out of her purple dress. Reaching up to the back of her neck, she unclasped her necklace and earrings, leaving them in a pile on her dressing table. She twisted the silver ring on her finger, eventually deciding to take it with her. _After all, I don't have to abandon _everything.

"We're going to be gone a long time, bud," she told him as she packed her backpack with clothes, stuffing in as many as she could. The whole while, she fought down a little bubble of panic. _How am I supposed to just run away? _She grabbed a flashlight from her bedside table, clicking in on and off to make sure it worked, then put it in as well.

Mightyena nudged her leg, a rolled-up map in his jaws. He turned away, scratching a drawer open, and then returned with a new package of five Pokéballs, tossing them up to her, too.

"Thanks, bud," she praised, scratching his ears and getting a happy grumble in return.

Once she was certain she was all packed, Selena leaned back with her hands behind her head, pleased at her own work. "We'll be good for a while, Mightyena," she assured him. "Now all we need is some Pokémon food and some food for me." She grimaced, realizing she had to go downstairs for that. "Stay here," she told him sternly. "I'll be right back."

Mightyena looked rather upset to not be able to go with her, but sat down on his haunches, his tail wagging slightly.

Selena smiled. "Good boy." She crept past him, peering into the hall to make sure it was empty, before walking softly out and down the stairs, one at a time, her ears straining for any possible sound. Her heart nearly stopped when she heard a slight creak, and she paused, barely breathing, until she realized it was just the step she was on.

She made it to the kitchen undetected, moving as swiftly as a dart, and quickly began to grab stacks of nonperishable food, stuffing them into a plastic bag. "Bullseye," she breathed to herself, sealing the bag shut. Opening the cabinets softly, she also grabbed a bottle full of water, and was just bending down to find the Pokémon food when someone coughed lightly behind her. She whirled, ready to defend herself, until she realized it was Maria, wrapped in a light blue robe.

"Miss Selena," she whispered, her eyes worried. "You're going to run, aren't you?" Her voice was sad and concerned.

Selena, clutching a box of pineapple-flavored Pokémon snacks, didn't know what to say. _Oh, crap! She'll tell Mother! _"I...I was just...hungry," she said lamely, slightly shaking the box. She ran her tongue over her dry lips as she watched the play of emotion over Maria's lined face.

"Hungry for...Pokémon snacks?" she asked delicately, pulling the box from Selena's grasp and flipping it over to look at the back. "Please, Miss Selena. I am not a fool."

Selena bit her lip, staring between Maria's gray eyes before murmuring, "She's going to take them away. I can't let that happen."

Maria's eyebrows contracted, and she lightly grabbed Selena's arm. "Come to my room, Selena. I have something that may be useful." She gently pulled Selena along to her small room on the ground floor, pushing open the door and stepping inside.

Selena followed willingly enough, remembering the many times that Maria had brought her in here as a child to teach her how to crochet or knit. "What is it?" she asked, trying not to be rude. "I need to get going."

"Here, dear." Maria disappeared into her closet, reappearing with a dark blue sleeping bag. "You can have this—it was my husband's when he used to go camping."

"Wow, thanks, Maria," Selena said warmly, running her hand over the soft fabric.

"And take these, too, dear," Maria pressed, pushing a pair of thick-soled boots into her arms. "They'll help over the more rough terrain. You look about the same size as me. And one more thing..." She went back into her closet and returned with a flat, gold box in her hands. "I wanted to give this to you after your first gym battle, but this seems a more important time." She handed over the box.

Taking it gently, Selena opened the top box, her breath catching when she realized what it was.

The quilt was white itself, with squares of pitch black and shimmering silver-gray, with a border of dark clouds along the outside. Fully spread out, it must be even more beautiful, Selena thought.

"I know it's going to be a burden to carry it with you," Maria said apologetically. "But with the cold weather at night, I assumed it would come in handy."

"Maria...I don't know what to say." Selena ran her fingers over the silky material, noticing with a little laugh that the cloud border was the same pattern that was on the sticker of Mightyena's Pokéball.

"I was a Pokémon trainer when I was your age," Maria said, a smile on her face. "I know the bond between Pokémon and trainer, and it's more than the superficial bond your mother thinks it is. You need to protect them, and they'll protect you in return. That's how it was between my Dewgong and I." She grabbed Selena's hand, squeezing her fingers gently. "Just be safe, okay, dear?"

Selena smiled, throwing her arms around the old lady. She had been like a grandmother to Selena all her life—a kind role model where others were cruel and shallow. "Thank you so much, Maria. I won't forget this."

Maria laughed softly. "You'll need to be going now, Miss Selena," she told her. "Your parents have just gone to bed not even fifteen minutes ago. I can lock the door behind you—"

"No," Selena argued. "They'll know you were the one to let me out if the door's locked in the morning. I'll climb out through the window."

Maria frowned. "Your room is three-stories high," she protested. "You'll break your neck! Just go out the door and I'll leave it open."

Selena could see the logic in Maria's plan, secretly dreading the prospect of climbing out her window anyway. "I'll go get my pack."

"I'll go pack you some _real _food," Maria teased, pointing to the box of Pokémon treats.

"Okay," Selena whispered, already out the door and heading up the stairs. There was a strange, warbling screech coming from inside, and Selena flung open the door in alarm, not sure what to expect.

Mightyena looked up in shock, his eyes wide and watering as he looked at Selena.

Selena looked past him to see Trapinch out of her Pokéball, her eyes gleefully closed as she gnawed on Mightyena's tail.

"Trapinch!" she scolded in a whisper, tugging her loose of his tail. "You can't come out whenever you want! It's dangerous!"

Trapinch looked happily up at her, looking unsure or uncaring of what she was saying. She purred and rubbed her head against Selena's arm.

"Aaw!" Selena squealed softly, seeing Mightyena's incredulous expression out of the corner of her eyes. "You're so cute!"

Mightyena growled sharply, shaking her backpack and looking up at her.

"Right, right," she agreed, pulling Trapinch's Pokéball out of her silver purse to make her return, but the little orange Pokémon was tottering away, rummaging around in the crumpled papers by the desk. "Trapinch! Come over here, little girl!"

Trapinch came back readily enough, her eyes glittering as she deposited a paper ball on Selena's lap, moving back to watch her.

"What's this?" Selena murmured, smoothing out the paper to see, with a little jolt, that it was the Golden Star Conference notice that she had printed out the previous night. "What...you think we should go to this?"

But Trapinch just stared at her, her eyes gleaming.

Sighing heavily, Selena pointed the Pokéball at Trapinch and murmured, "Return."

With a flash of white light, the little orange Pokémon was gone.

Selena went to re-crumple the paper, then paused, thinking it over. "What the heck," she muttered, folding it evenly and putting it in her backpack with the Pokéballs of her team. "You, too, bud," she said to Mightyena. "I'll let you out when I get far enough away."

Mightyena nodded stiffly, closing his eyes as he returned to his Pokéball.

Selena minimized it, then placed it carefully on top of the rest of her things, zipping the pack shut with a sharp snap. Moving to her desk, she pulled out a pen and a new fresh sheet of paper, hesitating slightly before she began to write.

_Mother and Father, I'm sorry that you have to find out this way, but I'm leaving. I can't be __completely happy in a home where my friends—my faithful team—are not welcome. I have decided that it's time for me to go on my Pokémon adventure, so I will be gone for a long time. Please don't worry about me—I'll be fine. I love you both, and hope that one day, you will be able to see that you aren't always right about things. Love, Selena. _

She folded the letter in half, pressing it to her chest for a few heartbeats, before laying it on top of her discarded necklace and earrings on her dressing table, knowing that her mother would find it. Standing back up, she shouldered her pack and opened the door.

She moved quickly out into the hall and down the stairs, not dropping her guard until she was back in the kitchen with Maria.

"Here, Miss Selena," Maria said, tying a carefully-constructed bag to the backpack and tightening the sleeping bag on top of it. "You're all set for about two weeks with that—Pokémon food and all. I put some money into the side pocket of your pack, okay? And your quilt is right inside with the food—I used it to pad the boxes and such so they won't make noise."

Selena hugged Maria tightly again. "Thank you so much. Please have my mother look for a note I wrote her on my dresser."

"Of course, dear. Be safe."

Selena swallowed painfully past the lump in her throat, nodding stiffly. She turned around and pulled open the door, feeling a rush of cool air play over her face. Taking a deep breath, she walked outside and closed the door behind her, feeling a strange note of finality in the soft thud of the dark wood.

* * *

**Dun, dun, DUN! What will happen now? Will Selena triumph over her parents? Will she fail? Tune in next time! (Man, I feel like a bad Saturday morning TV show. *_*)**

**R&R~**

**Shadow**


	5. Chapter 5

**Update, update! I really enjoy writing this fic, more so than my His Dark Materials fic, for sure. So, the words for this week are:**

_Plastic carton_

_Lightning_

_Watermelon_

_Speaker_

_Carrot_

_Candle_

**And onto the fic~**

* * *

"I am _so _over camping!" Selena fumed as she wrenched her foot from yet another crack in the rocky floor, trying to figure out why on earth she would ever want to go through Mt. Coronet. _Oh right, _she thought a second later. _To get away from Mother and Father. _

She had decided to go through the mountain caves instead of trying to go around them. A friendly trainer had showed her the way to the path through the climbing mountains. _I bet you were laughing at me when I left, _she thought darkly, sidestepping a large boulder.

"Is that light?" she asked herself, catching her foot on a rock protruding from the ground and falling to the ground, her flashlight flying out of her grip and smashing against the sharp side of a boulder, casting her into darkness.

"Crap!" she hissed, getting to her feet, wobbling slightly. She felt her backpack carefully, making sure that it wasn't torn. _I need to find my flashlight, _she thought, getting on her knees and reaching blindly around her, trying to recall the moment that the flashlight had whirled away.

Her fingers brushed along the ground, raising a cloud of dust that tickled her throat. "Lairon," she coughed, groping along the side of her backpack for the pocket she kept the Pokéballs in. Pulling one out, she ran her fingers across the smooth face, feeling a rectangular outline of a sticker. "Nope, that's Trapinch." She set it against her leg so it wouldn't roll away, and pulled out another. "Here we go," she muttered, feeling the outline of the wrench that adorned the Pokéball. "Come on, Lairon!"

A flash of light briefly illuminated the area, enough for Selena to reach forward and grab the flashlight, feeling the jagged edges of the snapped plastic.

Lairon stomped towards Selena and, not being able to see her, knocked her right over and into the side of a sharp rock.

"Lairon!" Selena called. "Hold on, big girl! I'm right here." She reached out and ran her fingers over Lairon's metal-plated nose. "Can you find us a way out of here?"

Lairon gave a low grumble in return, turning around and lumbering off, letting Selena keep her grip on one of the ridges that rose up over Lairon's spine. There was the distinct sound of crushing rocks, and Selena felt the gritty dust rising from the force of Lairon's weight.

Finally, Selena began to see a glimmer of light at the end of the cave. "Yes! You did it, Lairon!" She scratched the Steel-type's hard flanks, making harsh squeals rise from the metal. She fished the Pokéball out of her pocket and called Lairon back, stepping out of the cave and onto the soft, luxurious grass.

"Thank goodness!" She threw her backpack on the ground just off the path and collapsed on the ground happily, stretching her arms out behind her. "I'm not built for this."

Selena started violently when she heard a sharp snapping noise coming from the woods at her side. _Oh crap, _she thought, attempting to keep herself from panicking, stumbling to her feet. _What was that? _Her finger twitched towards Mightyena's Pokéball as the sound escalated, coming closer with every snap.

Just when she was warring whether to run away or stand her ground, a small black nose poked out of from behind a bush, followed by a whiskery orange-brown face and dark brown eyes that looked curiously up at Selena.

"W-what?" she stuttered, not believing her eyes even as the Pokémon pulled itself out of the undergrowth and onto the path in front of her, its long lightning bolt-shaped tail trailing over the ground. "A...Raichu?"

The Pokémon looked up at the sound of its name, its black ears pricked. "Rai?" it mewed cautiously, as if it wasn't sure how Selena was going to react.

"But..." Selena protested, slowly dropping to her knees and holding out a hand. _Raichu don't occur in the wild, _she thought in confusion. _They need to be evolved with a Thunderstone! _

The Raichu crept forward, keeping its brown eyes locked on Selena, inching closer with every cautious step. Finally, it paused, just a few feet away from her, and stuck out its nose to sniff at her hand. After a few seconds of this, it pressed the side of its face into her hand with a happy purr.

Selena gasped in shock. "You're...you're not a _wild_ Pokémon...are you?" she asked it. "Where's your trainer?"

Raichu looked up, tilting its head to one side. "Chu?"

Selena stroked the curly tips of its ears, smiling slightly. "You need to get back home, little guy."

Raichu grabbed at her hand with its brown paw, gripping her fingers tightly. It made an insistent noise, shaking her hand slightly.

"Um, I don't know what you want," she told it, trying to pull her hand away. "Is your trainer in trouble? Do you want me to help you find them?"

The Pokémon frowned, shaking her hand again. "Rai! Rai rai!" it said, pointing with one paw to the other end of the path.

"Okay, okay," Selena exclaimed. "I'll help you look for your trainer, alright?" She got to her feet, brushing the dirt off the front of her jeans. "Lead the way, then," she urged it, gesturing towards the woods.

Raichu growled, shaking its head. It made a quick, startled motion, then pointed to the ground behind Selena excitedly, dashing over and grabbing Mightyena's Pokéball, holding it up to her. "Chu!"

"Um, thanks," Selena muttered, taking the ball from it. "This is Mightyena."

Raichu nodded vigorously, pointing from the ball to its own white chest. It repeated the gesture again when Selena looked at it blankly.

"Do you...want to meet him?"

Raichu groaned, lifting its paws to its head in an obvious gesture of exasperation.

"I don't understand! What do you want?"

Raichu leapt up and grabbed Mightyena's Pokéball again, shaking it slightly. "Rai," it rasped, pointing to the ball. "Rai..._chu!_" It pressed the ball against its chest, looking hopefully up at Selena.

"You want me to...catch you?" she asked it hesitantly, motioning between herself and the Electric-type Pokémon. "Shouldn't we battle first or something?"

Raichu tilted its head.

Selena plucked the ball from its grip, releasing Mightyena with the ease of long practice.

The Dark Pokémon shook his fur as he emerged from the Pokéball, looking around at his surroundings with curiosity. His eyes alighting on Raichu, he immediately shifted his position into a protective crouch, shuffling over to stand in front of Selena.

Raichu looked at Mightyena with curiousity, making a grabbing motion at the other Pokémon. "Chuu!"

Mightyena twisted his head around to look up at Selena, confusion on his gray face. He let out a short growl, but Selena could clearly see the bafflement in his red eyes.

"I dunno, bud. This is an odd Pokémon."

Raichu let out a happy squeak, as if Selena had just complemented it on its fur instead of giving a criticism.

"Well...Mightyena, use Tackle!"

Mightyena leapt forward at once, aiming to knock the smaller Pokémon off its paws and onto the ground, but Raichu just sidestepped his attack, leaving Mightyena to overshoot and crash into the bushes. He emerged with an irritated grumble, shaking his fur loose of the clinging leaves.

"Shadow Ball!" Selena cried, seeing that the Raichu was just watching Mightyena with wide brown eyes and making no attempt to attack.

With a snarl, Mightyena parted his jaws and gathered energy into a dark purple-black sphere, launching it at Raichu.

With a grunt, Raichu swung its tail up in front of its body, dissipating the attack with a short burst of electricity, lighting up the surrounding tree trunks with a white-hot glare.

Selena threw up her arm to block the piercing light, cringing away from it. When she looked again, Raichu was sitting right in front of her, its eyes closed happily as it said, "Chu _chu!_"

"Mightyena, use Bite!" she called, leaping out of the way as Mightyena crashed forward, his claws outstretched and reaching...

Raichu turned around, and seeing him coming, took one step to the side, just moving enough for Mightyena to go soaring past it.

Mightyena let out a furious growl, trying to Tackle Raichu again without Selena even ordering him, following it up with Take Down. Every move Mightyena made, Raichu either neatly dodged or deflected with its black tail.

"That's it!" Selena snapped, clenching her fists. "Forget it, Mightyena. Let's go."

Mightyena growled in protest, his flanks heaving as he fought for breath. He took another step towards Raichu, his eyes narrowed.

"Stop!" She grabbed Mightyena by the scruff and forcibly dragged him over to her side—him squirming and thrashing the whole time—then turned to Raichu irritably. "Look, I don't know what you want, but we're leaving. You'll have to figure it out yourself."

Raichu's happy expression faded, to be replaced by a desperate sadness. It chirped out a pitiful mew, and reached out to Selena with placating paws.

Selena hesitated, her fingers still in Mightyena's long black fur. "Are you hungry? Is that it?" Releasing her hold on Mightyena, she strode over to her backpack, pulling a tin of Pokémon treats from a pocket. "Here," she said roughly, holding out a handful of the small brown pellets.

Raichu padded over on its hind paws, sniffing delicately at the food before grabbing them, nibbling on the edge of one while it held the rest in its other paw.

"There you go." Selena shouldered her pack, tightening the straps, before walking back to the path. "I guess you'll be fine now."

Raichu looked up as they walked by, reaching out with one paw again, its brown eyes never losing their look of sadness.

Selena forced herself not to look, walking around the bend in the road.

Mightyena let out a short growl as he padded alongside her, his eyes flickering over his shoulder more than once.

"It didn't want to battle," she mused quietly. "It was a Raichu...it had to have a trainer somewhere. Raichu don't exist in the wild naturally—it had lost its trainer or something."

Mightyena snapped his head around, a sharp snarl rising from his throat. Following his gaze, Selena watched Raichu poke its head back into the bushes just as she looked.

"We see you," she snapped. "You can come out now."

There was no motion for a minute, then Raichu came trotting out of the woods, its eyes hopeful as it reached Selena's side. It reached up with one paw to tug at the edge of Selena's backpack.

Selena sighed, dropping her hand to rest on its head. It let out a happy cry as it nuzzled the side of her leg. "I don't understand."

With a quick jerk, Raichu pulled her backpack off Selena's shoulder. It fell with a thud to the ground, rattling the contents.

"Hey!" Selena snapped, reaching down to push Raichu away from where it was digging through her backpack, spilling clothes, packets of food, candles, and water bottles everywhere. She grabbed its scruff and yanked it into the air just as it pulled the packet of Pokéballs out of her pack. "Get out of that!"

Raichu held the package against its chest, gnawing on the side of the plastic carton with a single-minded intensity.

"Give...me...that!" Selena struggled to pull the Pokéballs away from the Pokémon, but it narrowed its eyes and held one, ripping a hole in the side and spilling the five balls all over the ground. Selena sighed irritably, dropping the Raichu to the ground. "Now look what you've done."

But Raichu wasn't listening. It dashed over to one of the Pokéballs, picking it up and turning it over and over in its paws.

Selena looked up at the sound of a ball being maximized. "Hey! Don't—"

But it was too late. With a cheerful wave, Raichu pressed the Pokéball to the side of its head, disappearing in a flash of white light. The Pokéball shifted a few times as Raichu moved inside, then fell silent with a resounding beep.

Selena watched, mouth agape, as Raichu basically captured itself. A box of watermelon-flavored Pokémon treats fell from her grip unnoticed. "Did...did it just...?"

Mightyena dashed over to the Pokéball, his head tilted to one side as he stared bewilderedly down at the ball. He twisted his head to look at Selena, his eyes confused.

Moving over to him, Selena stooped and picked up the ball, releasing Raichu with a flick of her wrist.

Raichu reformed on the ground, looking up at her with bright eyes. "Rai!"

"What did you do that for?" she demanded, kneeling down to look at it on eye level. "Why did you capture yourself?"

Raichu looked at her solemnly, reaching out with a paw to press it against her hand. "Chu," it murmured, patting her hand. It reached up tugged at one of its ears, pulling back the longer yellow fur to show Selena a tear in the skin, making the ear ragged at the base, the fur feathered all the way up to the curly tip of the base of the ear.

Selena rubbed the fur at the base of Raichu's ear delicately. "So you _had _a trainer, then, huh?" she murmured. "They didn't treat you very well."

Raichu looked up at her with wide eyes, letting out a short raspy sound. It patted her hand again, a cheerful look coming across its face.

Selena smiled, and wrapped her arms around Raichu's scrawny body. "Well, you're part of the family now," she told it warmly, stroking its ears. "I won't hurt you."

Raichu made a happy mew, pulling back to dance around in front of her.

Selena laughed, pulling out her Pokédex. "Let's see what it says about you." Pointing the beam at Raichu, Selena stepped back and hit the button.

_"Raichu: the Mouse Pokémon. Raichu's electric charges can reach up to 100,000 volts, and it uses its long tail as a ground to protect itself from its own electric surges."_

Flicking through the dex, Selena saw that this particular Raichu was male, and his original trainer had been someone named Roger. "Well, we won't be worrying about Roger anymore, will we?"

Raichu's reaction was immediate. He flinched away, curling his tail up over his face in fear.

"It's okay, little guy," she murmured, reaching out to pull Raichu's tail away. "I'm your trainer now, okay?"

"C-chu," Raichu muttered, dropping his protective stance.

Mightyena nudged Selena's shoulder, dropping something into her lap—the sticker tin.

"Good thinking, bud," she praised. "Why don't you get the rest of them, huh?"

Mightyena growled in assent, poking Raichu's side with his nose, before turning and trotting over to the pack.

Selena snapped the top off the tin and held it out for Raichu to look at. "Here you go, little buddy. Pick out whichever one you want to put on your Pokéball."

Raichu cupped his chin with a paw, looking over the shiny stickers. Just as he reached out to pluck one out of the pile, a weight hit him from the side, knocking him clear off his feet.

"Trapinch!" Selena groaned, pulling the orange Pokémon away from Raichu's tail. "Honestly, I don't know what's with you and tails."

Trapinch looked unconcerned by the speaker—regardless of the fact it was her trainer speaking. She squirmed as she looked at Raichu curiously.

The orange-brown Pokémon looked at her curiously, tilting his head back and forth, before finally reaching out and patting the top of her head.

Letting out a happy purr, Trapinch wriggled free of Selena's grip and launched herself at Raichu. The Electric Pokémon let out a startled mew, but caught Trapinch and swung her around happily.

Houndoom, just approaching with Lairon and Mightyena, saw them playing and immediately joined in, stamping the ground with his huge paws. After a moment's hesitation, in which Raichu and Houndoom cautiously touched noses, the huge, black Pokémon was admitted into the game.

Lairon settled her huge weight onto the ground near Selena's elbow, gently butting her with her iron-plated head. She yawned hugely, laying her head on the ground and closing her eyes.

"Raichu! You need to pick a sticker!" Selena called out, shaking the small metal box full of the stickers.  
Raichu dashed over, Trapinch in hot pursuit, and skidded to a stop in front of Selena, reaching out to hover his paw over the box. Finally, he pulled away with a disgruntled expression.

"What's wrong?" Selena asked him, fishing through the tin and coming away with a thunderbolt sticker. "How 'bout this one?"

Raichu looked at it for a second, then away again, unimpressed.

Fighting back an irritated sigh, Selena pulled out a small Pikachu-shaped sticker. "What about this one?"

Raichu let out an angry sigh, flicking the sticker away from her fingers.

"I'm sorry, I don't have any Raichu stickers," she explained. "What about this?" She held up a sticker of a diamond.

Raichu looked at her as if to say _Are you serious? _

"Then you pick one already," she snapped. "We can't be here all night! I have to find somewhere to camp already!"

Raichu looked affronted for a moment, then dug his paw into the stickers, coming up with about five of them. He slowly picked through them, knocking them to the ground when he found one that was unsatisfactory. When only one was left, he displayed it to Selena, a happy expression on his face.

"A...carrot?" she said in disbelief. "You want a carrot sticker?"

Raichu blinked cheerfully.

Sighing, Selena said, "Alright, then," and peeled the back off, sticking the cartoony carrot right over the white button on Raichu's Pokéball. "There we go."

Raichu grabbed the Pokéball from her grasp, looking at it critically before returning it, pleased. "Rai rai!" he said cheerfully.

"Right," Selena mumbled, pulling out the ball to recall him. "Return, Raichu! You, too, everyone!"

After a few flashes of white light, Selena stood alone on the side of the path. Confident now, with her new Pokémon in hand, she began to crash her way through the bushes, shouldering them out of the way until she reached an open space. Stepping through, she was happy to find the perfect camping spot...just before a jet of flames shot towards her with alarming accuracy.

* * *

**Dun, dun, DUN! What will happen now? What is next for Selena? **

**...**

**:D**

**Youuuu'll see! ^_^**

**Shadow**


	6. Chapter 6

**So...it's been awhile. ^.^' My bad.**

**So's the deal. Me and Fwirl (go read her fics~) are mushing our fics into a solid single...thing. It will be amazing, so go and read her version to get the POV of her character, 'kay?**

**On to the story!**

* * *

"What is this?" Selena spat, twisting to the side as her sleeve caught fire. "Who's there?"

"That's what I should be asking!"

Selena, still beating at her smoldering jacket, looked towards the sudden voice, noticing for the first time that another girl was in the clearing. Her hair was a deep red, shaded even darker from the campfire behind her, and her blue eyes were narrowed with anger.

Mightyena didn't wait for an order, leaping forward to bowl a small orange-red shape off its paws. He growled as he wrestled with it on the ground—the small form resolving into a Vulpix. The Vulpix opened its mouth and released a jet of flames at Mightyena's shoulder, but the Dark-type narrowly dodged it.

"Stop it, Vulpix!" The other girl came running over, her eyes still sharp with suspicion as she pulled her Pokémon away from Mightyena, the Vulpix struggling in her grasp the whole time.

"Hold on, bud," Selena ordered, placing a hand on Mightyena's shoulders. "What's the big idea, huh?" she demanded, narrowing her eyes at the girl.

The other trainer released her hold on her Pokémon, her arms cross and her expression indignant as she replied, "You're the one who came randomly charging into my camp!"

Selena scoffed, setting her hands on her hips. "Well, what kind of place is this for a camp, anyway?" She rolled her eyes, shifting her weight to one side and looking down her nose at the girl in a way that she knew irritated people. "You're right in the middle of the path." She waved her hand vaguely behind her, gesturing to the hole she had just crashed out of.

The girl looked confused. "Uuhh, the path is over there." She raised her hand and pointed in the opposite direction.

Selena followed the movement, bewildered. Trying to save face, she smoothed her tousled brown hair and stuttered, "That's what I meant."

Mightyena watched this with wide eyes, his lip slightly curled. He let out a sharp growl as the Vulpix caught his eye.

"...Yeah," the trainer said slowly, clearly questioning Selena's sanity. "Hey, what are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm...er..." She looked wildly around, attempting to think of a reason for someone to be out in the middle of the woods, until her eyes alighted on the other girl's small tent. "Camping," she clarified.

"Oh...okay, then." The trainer awkwardly smiled at Selena. "Do you...need a place to stay? The clearing's big enough."

Selena felt a sudden wave of suspicion. _I can't stay here! _she protested mentally. _This is too close! Mother will be all around here looking for me..._ "Er, well, I was actually planning on trying to get a little farther from Hearthome..." A sudden searing pain at her wrist alerted her to her smoldering sleeve. She swatted at it, feeling panicky, trying to put it out.

"Oh, do you want some water for that?" the trainer asked worriedly, her eyes wide. "I'm sorry, sometimes Vulpix can get a little surprised and just uses Flamethrower like that."

Her Vulpix let out an indignant growl at her feet, averting its gaze irritably.

Feeling a small prickle of surprise, Selena nodded. "Thanks, uh..." She trailed off hopelessly as she realized she had no clue what this girl's name was.

"No problem!" the trainer said cheerfully. "Oh, by the way, I'm Lily! Nice to meet you!"

Driven forward by years of experience, Selena raised her arm, hand extended for the customary hand shake. "I'm Selena, and this is Mightyena." She tilted her head towards the Dark Pokémon at her side. "Is that your main Pokémon?" she added with a pointed look at Vulpix.

Lily just stared at her hand as if she was confused by the gesture. "Nice to meet you too, Mightyena; sorry I forgot to greet you just now. I guess you could say Vulpix is my main Pokemon—her and Suzaku."

Selena withdrew her hand slowly, confused by this girl. _Hasn't she ever introduced herself to someone before? _"Suzaku?"

"My Eevee," Lily answered conversationally, turning around to enter her small tent, waving at Selena to make herself at home. "He was a gift from my brother when I left home from Jubilife. Of course, he was only an egg then."

Selena unshouldered her backpack, dropping it to the moist ground with a thud. Sitting by the fireside and drawing her knees up to her chest, she said, "Eevees are cute, especially Umbreon. It's my favorite." She smiled slightly to herself as she thought about ever training such an amazing Dark-type.

"Really?" Lily called, still in her tent—shuffling sounds rising as she moved around. "Mine too! Dark-types are so awesome."

Mightyena cleared his throat poignantly, looking up at her with bright red eyes that said _I told you so. _Selena ruffled his ears playfully. "Yeah they are," she agreed. "What's the rest of your team?"

Coming out of her tent with something in her hand, Lily smiled mischievously. "You'll just have to wait and see, now won't you?"

Selena smirked, leaning back with her hands behind her head. "Are you trying to say you can beat me? How old are you anyway?" she asked scathingly.

"Well, I might be saying that," Lily said cheekily, her eyes glittering. "And I'm fourteen, for your information. What about you? Should I start calling you grandma?" She stuck out her tongue.

Feeling a glimmer of respect for this trainer, Selena narrowed her eyes. "I'm _seventeen, _actually."

"Uh-huh. Riiight." Without warning, Lily chucked the item in her hand at Selena.

She caught it with one hand and looked down at it curiously—a bottle of water. She twisted open the cap and looked at the label, shrugging when she didn't recognize it.

Mightyena, who had been circling the campfire with watchful eyes, approached Vulpix slowly and gave it a cautious look, hesitantly lifting his nose and sniffing.

Vulpix jumped back, startled by his sudden approach, then stepped forward as well, curiosity in its brown gaze.

Selena poured the water on her smoking sleeve, a slight smile on her face. "It looks like our Pokémon are friends already."

Lily looked towards the two of them, smiling as well. "Pokémon always seem to have a way of connecting easily...I wonder why that is?"

Selena smiled wider. " They make friends easier than most people. Mightyena doesn't normally...odd." Mightyena was always a little wary, someone on the outside looking in, like her. He got along fine with the others in the team, but didn't take lightly to strangers. _It's so bizarre that he suddenly takes a shining to this Vulpix, _she thought.

"So where are you headed?" Lily asked, snapping Selena out of her musing.

Feeling panicked again that she would be found out, Selena stuttered hastily, "Where are _you _going?"

"Hmm? Me? I'm going to sign up for the Golden Star Conference in Hearthome."

Selena gasped. "Really?" She twisted around to fumble through her backpack, pushing silver foil-wrapped strawberries and clothes around to find the crumpled paper she was looking for. Fishing it out, she hastily smoothed the flier out, displaying it to Lily. "Look! Isn't this it?"

Glancing at it, Lily said, "Yeah, that's it! You're participating in it, too, then? That must be why you're so close to Hearthome.

Selena bit her lip. _Crap, what does she really know who I am? What if she's faking being all innocent? _Selena looked at Lily's open face suspiciously. _Why would she be so prying anyway? What does she want? _"Yep," Selena said finally, deciding to go along with it. "I'm going to win it." She felt smugness shape her face, proud of her team being so powerful.

Lily grinned competitively. "I guess I'll see you then. I don't think we'll be in the same age group, though..."

Selena shook her head. "I doubt it. You'll be with all the little kiddies and I'll be with the adults." She grinned and leaned back, resting most of her weight on her arms, feeling Mightyena's warm fur on her arm as he slunk back over to join her.

Lily didn't laugh, as Selena expected, but rather grew quiet and solemn. " Adults are too controlling," she said softly, her eyes distant. "They think they can make you do whatever they want you to without your consent." She sighed. "Though, maybe sometimes they're right about some things."

Selena considered her words, staring into the fire and twirling the water bottle in her grasp, pursing her lips. "Adults need to worry about themselves. They can't control everything around them." She crushed the thin plastic in her strong fingers, thinking of the way her mother had threatened to take her team away from her. "They're wrong. They can't control _anything_." She fought the desire to wrench open her backpack and count her Pokéballs. _I'm _not_ obsessed, _she thought firmly to herself, dropping the useless bottle and folding her hands in her lap.

" I think they're trying to help; they just make it worse most of the time," Lily murmured softly. "But sometimes...sometimes they're just trying to protect you." Her face creased and she dropped her gaze.

Selena watched curiously under her bangs, seeing the play of emotion over the other girl's face. "Not always," she said harshly, her mind fixated on her own parents—her father's uncaring attitude and her mother's pig-headedness. Her father had always just bought her things—Pokéballs and other supplies when she needed them, clothes, books, CDs...but he lacked the compassion that Selena had seen in other students' fathers. As for her mother...Selena curled her lip and clenched her fists.

Lily shrugged, her dark red hair glinting in the harsh light of the fire. "That's what I believe. You'll see one day."

Selena's eyes narrowed. Who was this random girl thinking she could tell Selena how to act? "I'm going to sleep. I have a long way to travel tomorrow." She turned her back on Lily and began to untie her sleeping bag from the top of her pack, twisting at the sturdy knots that Maria had secured.

"Okay," said Lily, possibly seeing the dark look on Selena's face. "You're heading to Hearthome, right? Wanna go with me? Since we're heading in the same direction and all."

Selena's breath caught in her chest and she looked away sharply. "I just came from there—why do you want to get there so early anyway?" she demanded, not looking at Lily. She didn't want to give herself any opportunity to reveal any information. "The contest isn't for the next month."

"Oh, so then you already signed up?" Lily's voice was cheerfully inquisitive.

Selena felt a small jolt of surprise. "You have to sign up?"

Lily looked confused. "You...didn't know that? It said so on the flier." She pointed to the crumpled paper on the ground between them.

Selena bit her lip, starting to get nervous. "Well...how long will that take? We don't have to stay in Hearthome the whole time until the Conference, do we?" She hoped that she didn't sound to freaked out—she didn't want to have some sort of verbal wipeout and spill all her secrets. What if Lily decided to turn her in? No doubt her parents had laid a large sum of money on any information leading to Selena's discovery.

"Well, no, I suppose not. I hadn't really planned on going anywhere else. I have to find a place to train, but I guess a Pokémon Center will always do."

"I'll come with you to sign up...but I won't stay in the city."

"Why not?" Lily asked, sounding surprised.

She looked away. "I don't really want to talk about it."

"Then don't! I'm sorry, I got a little too nosy." Lily's words were hasty, but sounded well-meant, like she was trying to understand what Selena was feeling.

_Like anyone could, _she thought darkly. She shook her head, smiling slightly. "No, it's alright. I'll still go to the city, and then maybe come back into the woods to train or something."

Lily sat up quickly, an eager look on her face. "Could I join you? It's always easier to train when you have a partner."

"R-really? You want to train with me?" Selena was shocked. No one had ever shown this much interest in interacting with her before—not even her teachers or other students at school. _Except for Aiden, _a voice in the back of her head whispered, but she shoved it down, a strange feeling in her belly.

"Yeah! it would be a lot of fun!"

"Will I get to see your Pokemon?" Selena asked hesitantly, still unsure.

"Hmm...I don't know about _that._"

Selena looked up in surprise, but Lily was kidding, her eyes glittering. A smile crept over Selena's face at the thought of having a friend—a _human_ friend. "Well, I guess we have a deal then. Tomorrow we leave for Hearthome!"

Lily smiled. "Yeah! Let's work hard this next month!"

* * *

**So not bad, eh? It's gonna be awhile before I update and stuff, because I'm currently having a oneshot battle with Fwirl. And I WILL win. :D**

**R&R~**

**Shadow**


	7. Chapter 7

**Look, guys, this story liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiives!**

**So I've been playing Black and White (namely Black since that's the one I bought) and I totally squeed when I first saw an Audino. Are they not the most plushy, huggable-looking things ever? GOSH.**

**Um, so I might actually work on this one for a while and give my Warriors fic a break. Not like it hasn't already been on a break anyway. No harm, no foul! XD**

**Also, Fwirl and I have parted ways on our stories. AKA, from now on, it's just gonna be me writing. Since she's a lazy bum and won't write with me. D:**

**Anyway, enough nattering. **

**Onto the story~!**

* * *

Selena sighed heavily. "Okay, big guy," she said, stepping a few paces back. "One more time. This time, aim for the rock and not my face."

Houndoom stood in front of her. He looked a little crestfallen, with his tail drooped sadly behind him. The pointed tip scraped against the ground.

"It's okay," she assured him, striding forward and taking his narrow face between her hands. She kissed the silky fur between his curved horns. "Just…aim better. That's what practice is for, right?"

It had been two weeks since Selena had come across Lily in the clearing. They'd moved a little closer to the mountainside where the ground alternated between rugged dirt and soft grass. Right now, the younger girl was off probably training her little Eevee. She'd been shocked the first time she'd seen him; his fur wasn't the brown of a normal Eevee, but a lovely shimmering silver-beige color. Incredibly rare and incredibly precious. Selena had been jealous of Lily's luck. Shiny Pokémon were something a trainer only came across once in a lifetime.

Houndoom yawned widely, losing interest in training. He trotted over to where the shade of a maple overhung the tree and lay down. He huffed, and a stream of grayish smoke issued from his nostrils.

Selena groaned. "Come on!" she protested. "We have to be ready! Sign-ups are tomorrow and we need to audition!"

The first round of the competition was simply getting into the competition. All trainers in the age groups had to queue up early in the morning and test out their skills. Only twenty out of the auditioning teams would be admitted in the Gold Star Conference. And Selena _had _to be one of those twenty, otherwise all of the actions she'd done would be for nothing. She couldn't go back home without something to show for herself, something to prove to her mother that this team was worth something. That battling was worth something. Going home empty-handed would be like admitting defeat and Selena _never_ admitted defeat.

With some protesting grumbling and a lot of shoving, Houndoom got back to his paws and stepped in front of the rock. The face of it was black and blistered from the fire, and underneath it all was the slick surface of melted rock. His lips wrinkled back from his teeth and he arched his neck. Steam poured from around his sharp white fangs. Then he opened his mouth and shot a jet of white-hot flames directly at the rock.

Selena squinted through the heat wave and watched. Houndoom's fire was getting stronger and hotter. When they'd begun training, he'd managed only a weak stream that barely made the moss crisp—now he could hold this fierce barrage of flames for nearly a minute.

"That's good." Houndoom's fire stopped at her words. He turned to her, licking his lips, tail wagging. Selena smiled and knelt down to him to rub his sides; the fur was hot to the touch, like he'd been lying in the sun. It was one of the things she liked most about Fire-types: they were always good for a warm hug. "Good boy," she praised him as she danced around under her scratching fingers. "That was amazing. You're such a good boy, Houndoom."

Next was Dig training with Trapinch. Once she got the idea of it, she was easy to direct. Her only problem was her concentration: one little thing could turn a successful, powerful Dig into a tunneling, uncontrolled zooming just under the sand. Good for Sand-Attack, maybe, but not for an offensive move.

Mightyena and Raichu always did well in their training, even when Selena put on mock battles with Lily's Absol and Swampert. The two worked together closely, which was a bit strange for Mightyena. Usually he stuck to himself, like Selena, but he had some sort of connection with Raichu. Raichu wasn't the least bit wary about other Pokémon or people like Selena would have expected. He was friendly and curious, a little flighty like most Electric-types, but that was normal. His reaction only spiked when someone went too close to his shredded ear.

Night fell quickly and the two retreated back to camp, set up in the shelter of an overhanging rock. Lily was cooking some sort of soup over a fire tended to by her Vulpix. The pair looked up as Selena approached.

"Hi!" Lily said cheerfully. "I found some wild plants that are edible. I think."

"You think?" Selena looked suspiciously at the pot. It looked harmless to her—all leafy greens and bits of orange she assumed were carrots—and smelled delicious.

Lily put her head to one side. "I mean, Suzaku led me right to them and ate a bunch and he's not dead yet." She pointed the end of her spoon to where the Eevee lay on his belly, bushy tail whisking. His jaws parted in an adorable yawn.

"Good point. I'll get the Pokémon all fed." As Lily released everyone from their Pokéballs, Selena dug around in the backpacks, withdrawing a bag of Pokémon food. At once, every nose in the place was twitching; Trapinch and Lily's Shinx pressed up close enough to try and snatch at it before Selena lifted it above their heads. "Hold on, hold on. One second. Geez."

She divvyed out the food into separate bowls for all the Pokémon to eat, then settled down with the bowl Lily handed her. "Thanks."

"No problem!" She sat down and crossed her legs, allowed Suzaku to cuddle up in her lap. "How did training go?"

Selena pulled a face. "It's difficult to get him to focus," she said, nodding to where Houndoom was slavering over a bowl of Pokémon pellets. "Once he does, though, he's golden. What about you? Training with Absol, right?"

"Right. He's so strong." She shot the white Pokémon a fond look. "He's coming along nicely."

Selena swirled her spoon around the soup idly. "I was thinking… When we get into Hearthome and get all situated, it might be nice to practice the rest of the time alone."

"Alone?" Lily sounded surprised.

"Yeah, you know. Since the rest of the teams might be…watching. It would be good to have a few tricks up my sleeve."

Lily clinked the stem of her spoon against the bowl thoughtfully. "I see what you mean. I hadn't thought of that. Hearthome has a lot of space laid out for these kinds of things, you know. A lot of the people will probably stay." She laughed, looking down into her soup. "That is, if we get in the Conference in the first place. It's going to be difficult."

"I know." Selena sighed. "But I think we can do it. Our teams are strong and we've trained a lot these past few weeks. There's a good chance we can win. Two age groups. That means two titles we can win. And doesn't Conference Champion Lily sound good to you?"

Lily laughed again. "It pretty much does. Fine, then. How about this: we got to Hearthome together and register tomorrow. If we both get in, we'll have to make sure we meet in the Winner's Circle at the end. Two winners, two trophies. Let's make sure it's us holding those trophies." She held out a hand, grinning. "Deal?"

Selena smiled. Clasping Lily's hand in her own in a kind of fierce agreement, she said, "Deal."

The next morning, Selena and Lily woke early and packed up camp. The larger Pokémon helped out—Lily's Swampert, with its capable paws, pulled down the two tents with the help of Lairon, who yanked up the stakes, and Trapinch, who basically ran around and made a nuisance of herself. Mightyena, Absol, and Raichu carried the packs away from the edge of the rocks and pushed them into two piles, which the two girls packed themselves.

They made their way into the city, which was teeming with people. The air was charged with electric tension, the feeling only making Selena's heart beat faster in her chest until it felt like a trapped bird.

_A real Conference! _she thought, adrenaline pumping through her veins. _A competition! This is what I've been waiting for all this time! _

The auditions were being held in the Super Contest Hall—the only building besides Hearthome Stadium that could hold everyone needed. The idea of walking into a Contest Hall with all the fluffy hoity-toity nonsense sent Selena's stomach turning but she had to do it. Dealing with any reminder of her mother was painful but it was worth it to see herself holding that trophy.

"Wow," Lily breathed from her side. Her breath fogged into a white mist in the early morning coldness. "That's a lot of people."

"Yeah," Selena agreed, pulling her jacket tighter around herself. "A lot of people to beat out."

"We can do it." But Lily didn't sound as confident as she did the night before.

Selena couldn't help but agree. Just in front of them were a pair of trainers who just _looked _powerful. They had thick leather belts slung across their waists, bowed under with the weight of their Pokéballs. She could see the shape of a Pokédex in the back pocket of one of them, and the other was showing his friend the newest version of the Pokétch.

Selena, who also had that upgrade hidden away at the bottom of her pack, didn't think anything of it until Lily nudged her and whispered, "Oh my _gosh_. Look at that Pokétch! I'd kill to have one of those. It can do _everything. _It's a pedometer, a Friendship Checker, Pokémon list, timer, dowser, _everything._"

"Why don't you get one, then?" Selena asked, confused.

Lily looked at her like she'd sprouted two heads. "Are you serious? It costs major money. Like, twenty thousand Pokédollars!"

_Is that a lot? _Selena wondered. Judging by Lily's reaction, it must be. Selena herself had never thought much of the concept of money—her parents had always given her however much she needed. To her, money was just a thing to trade with, not really something to work hard for. "Oh," she said vaguely instead, choosing not to say anything.

As they made their way closer and the line behind them stretched around the side of the Super Contest Hall, Selena began to get worried. She pulled Mightyena's Pokéball out of her pocket and spun it between and around her fingers absently.

What if she didn't make it through? Would she have to go all the way home? Would she have to give up her Pokémon to a mother who didn't understand what the real meaning of Pokémon was?

Her fingers tightened on the Pokéball.

No. She wouldn't go home. She wasn't going anywhere. The idea of failure wasn't even a possibility: she _had _to make it through.

They waited in line for nearly two hours before they even reached the door. The automatic doors parted with a hiss of even colder air—nearly frigid compared the outside—and they walked into the dark room. The inside was packed with bodies, humans and Pokémon alike, and the air was thick with hushed conversation.

Lily was hopping next to Selena, trying to see over all the heads. "Up there, I think," she said, pointing straight ahead. "I see a sign."

Selena peered over her head. "What does it say?"

"'Register Here for the Golden Star Conference.'" She shot Selena an amused look. "Guess that's where to go, huh?"

The line itself seemed to be just for getting in the building. They made their way through the people, getting pushed and shoved. Lily got knocked nearly all the way to the floor before Selena caught hold of her to steady her.

"These people," she huffed, shooting the trainer who hit her a glare and getting a nasty look in return. "They don't even look."

"They don't," Selena agreed absently, chewing her bottom lip.

The woman standing behind the registration desk looked tired and haggard. "Trainers?" she asked, voice taut.

"Yes," Selena said. "Two of us."

The woman wordlessly held out her hand. "Trainer cards."

Lily immediately handed hers over—it was bright red and outlined in blue, with a picture of her and a row of places where badge stickers must go—but Selena panicked. _I don't have one of those! I don't battle at gyms! _

The clerk looked at Selena impatiently. "Trainer card, please," she said, in a voice that strained under the weight of politeness.

"I…I don't have one."

Lily looked surprised. "You don't? Why didn't you mention that before?"

"I didn't think I'd need one!" Selena protested.

"You can't enter without a trainer card," the woman said snappishly, handing Lily her card back and a stapled set of papers. She seemed to catch herself, because her next words were much steadier. "If you don't have one, please make your way to the service desk. Perhaps someone there can assist you." She smiled widely and falsely, as if she was trying to make every tooth show: she looked like a Sharpedo. "Thank you."

Selena stammered out an embarrassed thanks and quickly walked away from the desk. Behind her, she could hear the clerk greeting another trainer with the same tone of voice. _Crap, _she thought. _Now we're wasting precious time. _

Lily had already pulled a pen out of her pack and was signing away. "It's not bad," she said, seeing Selena watching her. "Trainer number, age, team members and their types. Stuff like that. No sweat."

"But I don't have a trainer number," Selena said worriedly.

Lily grinned. "You will soon. It takes, like, five minutes. Seriously."

Sure enough, Lily was right. After waiting in the extremely short line—all the trainers were waiting in the line Selena and Lily had just vacated—Selena was an official Pokémon trainer.

The young man in charge stamped the card and handed it over, saying, "Congratulations, Miss Clark."

"Thank you." The card was sleek and silky under her touch. The trainer number shone in gold ink. She pressed it between her palms, thinking how much she couldn't wait to show her team.

Lily had just finished up her paperwork. Sliding her pen behind her ear, she said, "Back in line, then?"

The clerk looked nearly disgusted to see them back. "Trainer cards," she said, holding out a hand even though she probably recognized Selena.

Selena passed it over proudly, watching the woman scan it through a little black device quickly.

"Thank you. Fill out these papers and return here." She took Lily's papers without a word and filed them away. "Here's your badge. Please pin it to the front of your shirt."

Lily took it from her and they retreated to fill out the papers. "Wow," Lily said, tipping the badge back and forth. It was a bright eight-pointed star outlined in red. In the center was the number 89. "I guess that's me," she said, tracing the numbers.

Selena filled out the forms quickly—penciling in her new trainer number with the same pride—and then walked back up to the front, making sure to hand them to a different clerk.

"Here you go, miss." The badge was number 156. "Please wait for the calls to begin. We call in groups. Please be patient."

"Of course," she mumbled. _So many in such a short amount of time, _she thought, a sharp twist in her stomach. Pinning the star to her shirt, she walked back to Lily, who had claimed out a small space in the tiled corner.

"That wasn't that bad," she said. "And now comes the worst part: waiting."

"Yeah," Selena agreed. "It shouldn't be that bad, though, right? She said they call in groups of ten."

Lily looked disappointed. "I'll be called a long time before you, then."

"That's fine," Selena said, even though she was a little sad. "I mean, we weren't going to get called together anyway." She pointed to Lily's badge, where a little bit of text was below her number: _Junior_. "I mean, you're in the juniors' category, right? I'm in seniors."

"Seniors," Lily snickered.

Selena grinned. "Shut up."

They waited in tense silence for the rest of the time. As expected, the directors called juniors first. When the eighties were called, Lily got shakily to her feet.

"I guess this is goodbye for now." She smiled. "I'll miss you."

Selena stood. "I'll miss you too. Here, let me give you my phone number. We can get in contact later if we both make it."

Lily's face lit up. "Okay, here let me get you mine, too." She ripped up a scrap of paper—the flyer for the Conference—and scribbled down her number. "Call me if anything happens. You know, training and whatever. We don't have to meet up or anything."

"Okay," Selena said. She took the scrap of paper and pocketed it.

Lily darted forward and hugged Selena tightly for a moment, then skipped back, waving her arms over her head. "See you in the finals!" she called.

"I'll see you there!" Selena called back, smiling widely. "In the Winner's Circle, right?"

Lily laughed and then her red hair was lost in the crowd.

Selena watched her go, feeling a little lonely. And now she was alone again.

The crowd slowly thinned as they called groups. Selena watched as the trainers remaining grew more and more nervous. One of them, a boy in his late teens, paced the floor incessantly, his Sneasel follow dutifully behind him, though even it was tugging at its red feather nervously. Another woman with a graceful Linoon stood in the corner staring out the window.

Mightyena had come out of his Pokéball a long time ago, rested his chin on Selena's knee and watched her face. His crooning growl rumbled through her skin.

She stroked his head absently. She knew he was strong, but what if the judges didn't? What kind of audition was it, anyway? Would it be a battle? A Contest? Would she have to show off her team's skills somehow? She just didn't know.

But it was time to find out. A representative of the Conference walked out, dressed in an official-looking red jacket and pants, emblazoned with the same star pattern as the badges.

He looked down at his clipboard. "Seniors 150 to 159, please come with me."

Selena got to her feet. Mightyena looked up at her, steadying her with his bright red gaze. "Come on, then," she whispered to him, and she fell in line behind the others, following them through the huge double-doors she'd seen the hundreds of other trainers go through.

Inside, it was long and dark—a tunnel, she realized—which soon blossomed outward to the waiting area. In this case, it was the smaller of the stage areas, with a raised platform and rows of seats on it.

"Please organize yourself by number," the representative said. "We will be with you shortly."

Selena awkwardly found her way up the stage behind the blonde-haired woman with the Linoon. The chairs were marked with single numbers that someone had tacked the number 15 in front of with bright yellow paper. It was all meant to be festive but somehow the brightness made everything look surreal. Selena sat down quickly in her seat before her nerves made her lose her breakfast.

She'd never gotten ill from a battle before. Usually the thought of a battle made her feel excited, happy, whatever, not this queasiness that made her vision blur like she was going to pass out.

"Think of the ocean," someone said in a gentle voice. Looking up, Selena saw it was that same woman. "It helps me when I get nervous."

"I'm not nervous," Selena said quickly.

The woman smiled. "I'm Sofia."

"Selena."

"This is your first try on a Conference, isn't it?" When Selena nodded, the woman made a soft, fond noise. "I remember my first one. Linoon was just a Zigzagoon then. We didn't do very well. I'm sure with that one there"—she nodded at Mightyena—"you'll pull through. I've never seen a healthier Mightyena in all my life. You must be very proud of it."

"I am." Selena ruffled Mightyena's ears. "He's a really good one. Strong, too. We've been training."

"Oh?" The woman put her head to one side. Behind her, her Linoon's pale eyes seemed to flicker.

"Out in the mountains. Me and my friend, Lily. It went well." _Shut up, _she thought. _Stop blabbering. Don't you know anything about nerves? What did Father always say? "If you think you're talking too much, you probably are._" So Selena just shrugged. "It went well."

"Yes, training in the mountains always does. I think it strengthens the spirit and the Pokémon." Sofia's smile widened. "Not to mention the trainer. I pity your poor back for sleeping out on the rocks."

"It wasn't bad." Selena was already feeling much better from the ease of the conversation. No one else seemed to be talking; the man on her left with the salt-and-pepper hair and mustache hadn't said a word the whole time. She didn't even hear the numbers being called off until Sofia stood, making her Linoon return to its Pokéball.

"Good luck, Selena," Sofia said, waving a little. "I hope you make it through." Then she tossed her hair over her shoulder and was gone, walking down the tunnel until she became a silhouette and then disappeared.

Feeling much relieved by the conversation, Selena sat back in her chair. _Maybe I can do this, _she thought to herself. _Sofia said as much. She would know; it sounded like she'd done it before. I can totally do this. No problem at all._

"Number 156," the clerk called in a brisk voice and Selena's heart dropped to her stomach. She called Mightyena back to his Pokéball with shaking hands.

_I can't do this, _she thought wildly, following him down the tunnel on legs she couldn't feel. Mightyena's absence beside her was suffocating. _I can't. Why would I volunteer for this? Why would I put myself through this torture? No, no, no, no—_

"Wait here, please. When that timer"—he pointed to the red digital clock above the door—"reaches zero, go in. Don't knock and don't make any noise. You'll see where you're meant to go. Do not release your Pokémon until the judges have asked you to do so." He clipped on a microphone to the collar of her jacket. "Good luck, trainer." And then he was gone.

Selena watched the clock above her, unable to look away. Three minutes—_Okay, this is okay, you can do this—_two minutes—_Just be calm. This is okay, you can do it—_one minute—_What were you thinking, doing this? You're stupid, stupid, stupid—_thirty seconds—_Oh, I'm going to throw up—_twenty seconds—_Don't panic, don't panic, you can do this—_ten seconds—_Okay, think of the ocean, right? The ocean. It's so…oceany. And blue—_five seconds, four seconds—she hadn't realized she'd been counting down under her breath until her voice broke shakily—three, two, one—

"Zero," she whispered, and opened the door.

* * *

**I tried to get a lot done in this chapter to get started on all the actiony stuff, so...yeah. It probably wasn't very exciting. Sorry!**

**The next will be better! And will probably be out tomorrow! I just got a new puppy (named Harley. God, I'm so American), so I'm the "puppy-watcher" of the house. Basically, I get to sit home and be a bum all day long letting him sleep so I can write. It works out well for both parties, I think!**

**Anyway.**

**R&R~!**

**Shadow**


	8. Chapter 8

**Mmm, guuuuuuys, my spring break is overrrrrrr. -sadface- But this just means I have more school to look forward to, right? That's good...right? (T~T)**

**Anyway.**

**Onto the story~!**

* * *

The room wasn't the Contest stage, like Selena had thought, but rather a rectangular room that looked like it was meant for practice. A long, low blue desk swept across right in front of her, with bright lights strung across the front spelling out "Golden Star Conference." They burned into Selena's eyes, and combined with the lights that glared down at her from the ceiling, she couldn't see anything but the judges' silhouettes. The mock stage jutted out a step above the ground in front of her, a wide circle of pale golden wood.

The judges seemed to be talking amongst themselves. "We have to start now," an older-sounding woman said. Her tone was taut with anger. "We can't wait for that bumbling fool. What kind of idiot would make a so-called celebrity a judge of a Pokémon Conference?"

"The sponsors said it would bring a younger batch of trainers into the competition," someone answered.

"We need to start now. He can input his thoughts later." The woman grumbled. "Honestly. An idol singer. Pathetic."

"Number 156, Selena Clark." It was the younger woman's voice, cutting across her companion's complaining. "Welcome to the Conference audition. Please, release your Pokémon for the judges' appraisal."

"O-okay." Selena cleared her throat to stop her stuttering as she dug out her Pokéballs. The bright red and white surfaces were slick from her sweaty palms, and she nearly dropped Trapinch's. "Come out!" she called, her voice catching, and then the air was filled with brilliant red light.

As they'd planned, Mightyena led the way to the line, directly in front of Selena. Houndoom stood at his shoulder, taller than him by a head with those curving horns. Trapinch was next, her orange carapace rubbed to a shiny brilliance, with Lairon lumbering up next to her. Raichu stood on the very end, paws curled against his chest, his brown eyes very bright.

"Miss Clark, what is your battle strategy?" one of the judges—a man now—asked after a moment of silence.

"Offensive," she said immediately. "Always."

"You prefer that over status reducing moves, do you?" It was the older woman, sounding skeptical. "Say, a battle between a Ghost-type and a Normal-type. You're saying you would Tackle instead of Sand-Attack?"

Selena blinked. "Neither. Those moves wouldn't work on a Ghost-type. Normal…Normal moves don't work on Ghost-types."

There was a lot of scribbling on paper.

"Very nice." It was the man again. "Choose the Pokémon you believe to be the most physically strong and send it forward, please."

Selena didn't even have to think about it. She strode forward and tapped Lairon on the back. The heavy Pokémon lumbered forward, sliding on her belly off the platform and onto the clear space in front of the judges.

The man—now that Selena's eyes had adjusted, she could see his bright black eyes set over an absolutely enormous gray mustache—pressed a button in front of him.

There was an explosion of white smoke and a klaxon-like shriek of noise and a large weight fell from the ceiling. The ground shook under Selena's feet as it settled to the ground.

"Please ask your Pokémon to shift this mass."

Lairon swung her massive head around to look up at Selena.

Selena said, "Lairon, Strength."

With a rumble in her deep chest, Lairon bent her head and _shoved_.

The weight didn't move at first, then slowly inched across the floor. Lairon dug her clawed paws into the ground and braced her shoulders against the huge metal block, grunting as the block picked up speed until she was pushing it quicker and quicker, leaving a thick stripe of scuffed wood behind.

"Stop." The man raised a hand but Lairon didn't stop.

"Lairon!" Selena called, and then the Steel-type halted, turning around to look at her trainer. Her pale blue eyes blinked, then she waddled back to Selena's side. "Good girl," she whispered to Lairon, getting a slow, affectionate blink in return.

Now the older woman was leaning forward interestedly. "Your Lairon is quite strong. By the thickness of its steel plates, it's going to evolve soon."

"Really?" Selena felt a little tingle of excitement. Lairon was strong as she was, but when she turned into an Aggron, she'd really be a force to be reckoned with. Just the thought of those heavy paws and that crushing, thick tail made the idea of battle sing through Selena's veins.

"The next task is a mock battle. You can choose which of us it will take place against. Choose wisely."

Selena bit her lip. "Um…"

"If you don't choose, it can be randomized. Whatever you'd like." The man sounded more patient than the woman.

_Don't agree to that, you'll look like a pansy. Only weenies can't decide which to battle. _"I'd like a battle with you, please," Selena said, nodding to the man. "Sir," she felt the need to tack on, the politeness sunken into her far too deeply.

He looked pleased. "Of course."

As he got set, the younger woman—the one with a short fringe of black hair and bright blue eyes—stood and followed him, standing straight in front of the desk. Selena thought, _She must be going to ref for us. _

Sure enough, the woman announced, "The match between Tobias Girard and Selena Clark will begin now. It will be a two-on-two battle. If your Pokémon faint, you lose. If your Pokémon withdraws, you cannot allow it to return. If your Pokémon is somehow incapable or unable to continue with the battle, you will lose. Are these rules understood?"

"They are," Selena said, her throat suddenly dry. Lose as in lose the chance to audition? Could they even do that?

But then the man released his Pokémon, a Delcatty, and her focus returned.

_Right. This is just another battle. _"Mightyena," she said, but he was already there by her side, waiting and ready. His hackles were up and his teeth were bared. With a nod, she motioned him forward and he stalked toward the Delcatty, red eyes narrowed with concentration.

"Your move first, Miss Clark," Tobias said, lifting a hand in her direction.

Selena didn't hesitate. "Mightyena, Take Down!"

He launched forward with a snarl, his front paws colliding with Delcatty, knocking it back off its paws. Landing fully on top of it, Mightyena crushed the air out of it with his weight, leaping aside when it lashed out with DoubleSlap. It hit Mightyena across the face three times before he got far enough away, shaking his head to clear it.

"Shadow Pulse!" Selena cried.

Mightyena took a step forward, and his shadow bloomed outward, coating Delcatty in a wave of darkness. It shook free of it with a gasp, as if it was coming up for air, and when it stabilized itself on its paws, Selena saw its legs tremble.

Tobias didn't even look worried. "Delcatty, use Sunny Day," he said calmly.

Delcatty froze in place. Its eyelids slid half-closed over its bright black eyes and suddenly everything was brighter. The lights buzzed as the glow intensified into an eye-watering glare; Selena shielded her eyes from it, but not before she heard Mightyena's yelp of surprise.

"You have to use what you can, Selena." Tobias, shockingly, was using this battle as a lesson. "We're not outside, but that doesn't affect Sunny Day—it'll use whatever light is available. Now, Delcatty, show Mightyena your Solar Beam."

"What?" Selena hissed.

Mightyena let out a shocked yelp, eyes widening rapidly.

Delcatty purred, arching its back in a luxurious stretch, before opening its dainty mouth wide.

The hot, white-green light that erupted in the small room felt powerful enough to light the desk on fire. Selena covered her face with her elbow, shielding it from the heat as the wind from the blast pushed back her hair, stinging her face as her bangs whipped back.

When the dust cleared, Mightyena stood in the middle of the empty space. He was still on his paws, but she could see his legs trembling. His ears were flat against his skull.

Tobias dropped his wrist from where he had pressed it against his mouth. "He's finished. Call him back."

Selena looked at Mightyena. Even though she couldn't see his face, she knew it was over. Admitting defeat now would save her some little dignity she had left, without Mightyena collapsing. "Bud," she said.

Mightyena growled, not turning around.

"Mightyena, it's done. Come back." She didn't want to snap her fingers to try and get his attention. He'd never been this disobedient before.

He swung his head around in her direction. His eyes were searching, beseeching. He whined, low in his throat, that familiar low growl, and Selena knew he didn't want to give up. Not yet.

Tobias put his head to one side, his pale eyes twinkling behind his glasses.

"Mightyena, use Assurance!" she called.

She saw him dig his claws into the wood, could hear it splinted beneath the sharp edges, and then he leapt forward. He reared on his hind paws and slashed his fangs down and there was suddenly a burst of purplish light. Delcatty flew back, sprawling onto its back, and didn't get back up.

Mightyena padded over to it, sniffing its fur, and growled. His lips wrinkled back from its teeth.

Tobias clapped slowly, like a gentleman with one hand higher than the other. "Very interesting," he said, rubbing his chin. "Very, very interesting." He pulled out a Pokéball and returned his Delcatty. "Your Pokémon wouldn't give up even when you called it back. You know, Mightyena won't disobey a trainer they believe is powerful and skilled. Your Pokémon clearly understands you to be a skilled trainer, yet it didn't obey. I wonder why that is?"

Selena, who had knelt down to rub Mightyena's long gray ears, looked up. Unsure of what to say, she replied, "Mightyena has his own mind. If he thinks he can stick it out, I let him."

The older woman made a small noise. "Ah, so you trust _them_ to make the decisions?"

_Is she trying to say that's a bad thing or what? _"I trust Mightyena to know when his own limits are, yes."

Tobias nodded. "Alright. My turn, then." He tucked Delcatty's Pokéball behind his jacket and pulled out another, blue with red highlights: a Great Ball.

Selena watched him, licking her dry lips. What could he send out next? Mightyena was done, she knew—he had already padded back to the line of his teammates behind her. Dropping onto his belly, he allowed Lairon to gently rub his shoulders with the end of her blunted muzzle, his eyes dropping half closed to just a slit of deep ruby.

"Please select your Pokémon, Miss Clark." The younger woman refereeing spoke with a completely neutral tone, though Selena could see she had taken a step back so that one hand was clutching the judges' desk. Her fringe of black hair was askew.

Selena turned to her team to deliberate to see who would be next when the door flew open. She whirled to face it.

In the door stood a man. Not even a man, but a boy in his late teens with long wild hair that hung to his shoulders. It was full of all sorts of things—thin braids of colored string, feathers, silver beads—and a very unusual dark golden color, sliced through with streaks of black and red. He wore a tight white shirt that showed off his muscular chest over which he had a black leather jacket that was artfully ripped, with dark jeans, and heavy leather boots. A rather smug-looking smile curled up one side of his mouth as he gripped the frame of the door with arms outstretched, like he was about to take flight.

"I hope I'm not late," he said, and his voice was surprisingly light and conversational; Selena had been expecting a punk rock rasp.

Tobias frowned heavily, making his bushy eyebrows lean down far over his eyes. "Where have you been? We already started this round. We're almost done."

"I'm sorry," the boy said, striding right in between them, seemingly unaware of the battle. "I was, er, otherwise occupied." He twisted one of the leather bracelets on his wrist.

"We don't have time for your excuses," the older woman barked. "Sit down and keep your mouth shut."

He started, then slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans and strode to the desk, settling down on the edge of it, head to one side as he surveyed Selena. His eyes were a bright yellow color. "Sorry, darling," he said. "I didn't know I was so late. Please carry on. Don't let me interrupt."

Selena's cheeks flushed with embarrassment—both for herself and the boy speaking. He seemed like he didn't even care about interrupting.

Tobias cleared his throat. "If we could continue now…" He turned to the boy. "Or do you have any other business with us, Blitz?"

_Blitz? _What kind of a name was that?

Blitz hummed a minute, then got to his feet. "If I could take over the latter half of this battle, that would be fine."

Tobias looked shocked. "What?"

The older woman hissed. "You can't interrupt a battle!"

"Trainers get their battles interrupted all the time out in the wild," Blitz said casually, already pulling a Pokéball from his back pocket. With a metallic whir, it enlarged to its normal size. "It's natural to want to try out one's skills against another trainer."

"Not while that trainer is, as you put it, otherwise occupied." The referee judge stepped up to Blitz and jabbed an accusatory finger at his chest. "You don't get to pick the rules. You knew them when the President of the Conference explained them. Being a celebrity judge has nothing to do with your ability to interpret the President's will."

Blitz pushed her hand away with one finger. "So you're saying you don't want to try this trainer out with a variety of other trainers?" He turned to Tobias. "You only have Normal-type. You were going to send out your Raticate, right?"

Tobias frowned deeply again, but said nothing.

Blitz chuckled. "That's what I thought." He made a little shooing gesture with the backs of his fingers as he stepped in Tobias's place in the room. His grin widened a little more when he saw Selena. "What's your name, darling?"

Behind her, Mightyena grumbled.

"Selena," she answered tersely.

"Mm. Pretty." His eyes closed lazily. "But I won't let myself lose to a girl, no matter how pretty she is. Call your Pokémon."

Selena gritted her teeth. "Raichu, come here." If anyone was going to get this boy to shut up, it was going to be Raichu. She'd taught him how to harness Electric attacks well.

As Raichu padded out to the middle of the battle area, Selena saw Blitz's eyes narrow, and he bit his bottom lip. She couldn't help but notice how good-looking he was, in that dark celebrity kind of way. His hair was a disheveled mess but it didn't take away from his prominent cheekbones or soft slanted yellow eyes. Through the open neck of his shirt, she could see his collarbones showing through his tanned skin as if they'd been etched there with a knife.

"What's wrong, Blitz?" the older woman asked, her voice full of false sympathy.

Blitz's frown was much more obvious now. He flicked out his wrist and threw the Pokéball into the air, stepping back and snatching it out of the air when it fell back down.

The Pokémon was a Skarmory, steel-helmeted with red wings that pointed into tips that looked like they could cut through sheet metal. It clacked its silver beak a few times as it rattled its wings, trying to intimidate the already intimidated-looking Raichu. He shot a glance over one tawny shoulder at Selena, who nodded encouragingly at him. His face narrowed in concentration, and he turned back to Skarmory, puffing out his narrow chest.

_Why would he send out a Steel- and Flying-type Pokémon against_ _an Electric-type? Is he stupid or does he think he's invincible? _Selena's resolve strengthened and her heart soared as the idea blossomed in her mind, strong and vivid and empowering.

_I can win. _

"Raichu, Thundershock!" she cried, leaning forward as if it was she herself who would leap into the battle.

Raichu obeyed immediately, arching his back and curling his long thunderbolt-shaped tail into the air. With a screech, he aimed himself at Skarmory and sent a jolt of electricity at it. In his excitement, the Thundershock didn't land anywhere near it, instead blackening the stage in a spot on the floor the size of an apple; it sizzled a little, sending up a waft of acrid smoke.

Blitz looked like he was baring his teeth. "Skarmory, Sand-Attack!"

Skarmory shrieked and stepped back, digging its sharp talons into the ground and scuffling around. After a moment of this, where the stage was gouged with deep slashes, the older woman let out a snort of derision.

"Hard to Sand-Attack when there's no sand, dolt," she scoffed.

Blitz's cheeks reddened. "I meant, Swift!"

Skarmory, still looking confused, turned towards Raichu and opened its mouth.

But no one was there.

"Now!" Selena cried, having just given the order for Raichu's attack in Blitz's distraction.

Raichu, leaping, turned in mid-air to Skarmory and sent a thin but bright jolt of electricity at it. Skarmory lifted its wings, trying to deflect it, but the Thunder Wave hit regardless. At once Skarmory froze in place, paralyzed.

Blitz swore fluently and violently, shocking both Tobias and the younger judge, then called, "Move! Get away! Skarmory, _move!_"

Skarmory's eyes darted in the direction of its trainer but the electricity fixed it in place as if it had been bolted to the floor.

"Raichu, take it down," Selena said, grinning now. Victory was in her grasp now—Skarmory couldn't even move. "Thunder."

Raichu gave a quick "Chu!" of agreement, then curled its brown paws into fists at his chest, sparks leaping from its cheeks.

The room blasted with bright yellow light. It shook the floors and walls, sending down a stream of dust from the rafters.

When it cleared, Skarmory was laying on its side, with Blitz standing over it. He looked disappointed. "Skarmory, return." The red beam buzzed as Skarmory dissolved back to its Pokéball. Hand on his hip, Blitz looked up at Selena in something that almost looked like bewilderment. "You win."

"I win," she repeated, feeling her heart flutter in her chest.

Tobias started up a slow clap again, followed by the two female judges. Blitz stood looking down at the ground, his mouth to one side. "Well done, Miss Clark. The audition is now over. You may gather your things and move to the waiting area." He straightened his glasses with one hand. "Thank you for auditioning for the Golden Star Conference, and good luck through deliberations."

"Thank you." Selena returned all her Pokémon to their respective Pokéballs and started to the door, swinging her pack over her shoulder. The doors shut behind her with a rather ominous thud, and a clerk moved to stand in front of it. He was wearing an identical outfit to the rest of the officials.

"Please move to the waiting area," he said, sweeping his arm down the hall. "Results will be announced in a few hours."

She nodded, clutching her armful of Pokéballs closer to her chest, and moved on.

The waiting room, it turned out, was just another branch of the front lobby curtained off by thick red drapes, muffling but not entirely blocking out the sound of the juniors chattering next door.

Sofia was sitting by the window again, smoothing back her soft hair with both hands, letting them linger on her neck. Selena recognized the gesture as one of stress: her mother used to do the same thing whenever she was feeling nervous about something. She looked up when Selena approached, surprise coming across her face. "Hello, Selena. How did it go?"

"Well, I think. I mean, I won the battle."

Sofia's face lit up. "Did you? That's a good sign. Who did you battle?"

"Tobias at first, but then Blitz jumped in." She tugged at a curl of her hair. "He's a celebrity, right? Um, who is he?"

"Who _is_ he?" A gaggle of teenage girls standing next to Selena leaned in, eyes wide. One of them pawed something out of her side bag—a Pokétch. Flipping it open, she pressed a button and music came buzzing out of it. The music was hard and driving, with a backbeat filled with crashing cymbals and a raucous guitar solo. Over it all was overlaid a voice singing lyrics that seemed filled with undecipherable words.

"Blitz Airborne," she said, her voice filled with fervent admiration. "He's the best singer alive!"

"A singer?" Selena had never heard of him. Not that she listened to most modern music, and especially not this screaming garbage.

"He specializes in Flying-types. They come onstage with him sometimes during his acts." The girl pressed her hands to her cheeks, which were flushed. "I can't believe I got to meet him. I can't believe _you _got to battle him! All I got was Lacie Glass—she was the older woman, she uses all Water-types. She was a Champion of the Pokémon League back in her day. The other one was Estelle Girard, who was the Champion before Cynthia."

"And Tobias?" Selena asked.

One of the other girls—the one standing next to the one with the Pokétch—said, "He was Cynthia's mentor. He shows all the young trainers what to do. Some said he was going to be the next Oak when he was younger, but he lost track of it all after his wife died. It's really sad." Her voice lowered. "They say he was Fantina's mentor, too."

Seeing Selena's blank expression, Sofia filled in, "Fantina is Hearthome's gym leader. Really, Selena, where are you from?"

"The suburbs," Selena answered quickly. "But how did you guys do? Did you win the battle?"

That got the group distracted. Apparently, it had been a close match for all three of them, but only one of them had won. Selena listened, nodding at the appropriate times, smiling, laughing, all the things her parents had engrained in her when she was younger—all things to do when your mind was on other things.

_I hope I get in, _was the thought dominating her brain now. _I don't want to go home. Winning the battle had to be good, right? I mean, it has to prove _something_!_

The day went on slowly, agonizingly so. The trainers filed into the waiting room one by one, some looking ecstatic, others depressed. Selena watched as some didn't even stop, just walked right out the door and didn't look back. Could their auditions have gone so badly that they gave up that quickly? Surely hers had been better than that…right?

Finally, the last trainer came out of the doors, followed by the judges. Once again, Blitz Airborne was missing, a fact that was clearly not lost on the remaining three. The older woman—Lacie Glass—looked even more disgruntled. Now in the light, Selena could see the lines that looked etched into her pale skin like wires; her hair was pulled back tightly and severely from her face, making her skin look almost stretched around her cheekbones.

"Draw the curtains back," Tobias said, and two orderlies went to do so immediately. As the fabric parted, Selena looked over the heads of all the younger trainers, but couldn't find Lily anywhere. She hoped that the younger girl had made it through to the next round.

"The judges have deliberated and have selected our twenty teams," she announced, her voice a rasp. Selena wondered if she'd spent her time making dry comments to the other competitors like she'd done to her. "Ten seniors and ten juniors. As you no doubt know, the people who are moving on to the next round will be living in the lavish Hearthome Gardens Hotel, complete with their own private suite for themselves and their Pokémon, a one-on-one training session with one of us before the tournament begins, a personal stylist to give them their own unique look for the battles, and"—now her lip curled just so—"two free tickets to Blitz Airborne's next concert."

There was a chorus of excited chattering and dreamy sighs.

Ignoring this, Lacie Glass coughed, straightened, and held up a red envelope, stamped with the Golden Star Conference seal. "Let us begin.

"First, in the category of juniors, we have the following trainers who will be moving on. Please, when you hear your name, come to the front and join us." She cleared her throat again, pulling reading glasses out of her front pocket, and began to go down the list, her voice quick and clipped. Selena listened hard to hear Lily's name, delighted when it was the third one mentioned. The ten trainers selected moved to the front beside the judges, their faces shining brilliantly.

Selena saw Lily bounce up next to a tall young man with dark hair, her hands shaking with excitement. She turned at the exact right moment and saw Selena, her face lighting up. She put both arms over her head and waved wildly. Selena laughed, returning the gesture.

"A friend of yours, Selena?" Sofia asked.

"Yeah. We came here together," Selena explained, then cut off.

"And now the seniors." Lacie Glass passed the envelope to Estelle Girard, who began to read. Selena could barely hear herself breathing, and everyone around her seemed similarly tensed, like the air had somehow been laced with electrical current. Her heart hammered in her chest, sending icy-cold shivers down her arms and spine. She could feel her pulse beat in her temple.

"Sofia Grace," was read, and then Sofia left, gripping Selena's shoulder as she went reassuringly.

"…Topher Lamia, Kimbal Jackson, Selena Clark, and Poppy Green."

"Selena, we made it!" Poppy—the girl with the Pokétch—grabbed Selena's arm and dragged her forward. "Selena, we're in the finals! We made it!"

Selena blinked. It felt like her heart had somehow plummeted out of her chest. Could it be possible that she had indeed made it to the next round? On unfeeling legs, Selena followed Poppy up to the stage, taking the gold badge emblazoned with the Conference's symbol with numb hands.

"Congratulations." Tobias's pale eyes glittered. "You did well, dear."

"T-thank you," Selena stammered out, her hands feeling cold and slick with sweat.

"Let's have a round of applause for our winners, everyone!" Tobias led the clapping—once again—and everyone followed suit. Selena stood there, in the middle of the senior line between Poppy and Sofia, clutching the badge to her chest and watching as the crowd cheered.

_I did it, _she thought, and suddenly warm adrenaline coursed through her veins, heating every inch of her body until it felt like her nerves were buzzing with energy. _I did it!_

**That was kind of a lame ending, but I'm tired. This whole "spring forward" time-change thing is so lame. Darn you, Benjamin Franklin, for even thinking of a way to make generations of people miserable! Darn you!**

**Enough whining.**

**R&R~**

**Shadow**


	9. Chapter 9

**Blaaaah, school. Spring break was far too short. I'd love to tell you guys an interesting story, but I don't have one. You'll have to settle for this pointless AN instead. Lucky you, you cheeky little things, you. XD**

**Anyway, enough blathering.**

**Onto the story!**

* * *

The judges led them to the back room again, drawing all twenty of the winning trainers together. Selena saw the ages were heavily varied—she was one of the youngest in the senior group, which started at sixteen—but the large majority of the trainers looked in their teens. One man was almost the same age as Tobias, with a thick gray beard and bushy eyebrows that made him look like an old gray owl.

As the doors closed, Lacie Glass said, "Alright. From here, you will be escorted to your hotel rooms. We have reserved an entire floor just for your use." Her pale eyes swept across them quickly. "Good luck, trainers."

Tobias and Estelle followed her suit, holding their clasped hands out toward the group in a show of respect, and then Selena and the rest were swept from the room and loaded onto buses. Selena had never been on a bus before in her life—not when her father and mother could afford better—and the experience was almost surreal. The rows of seats were plush, colored in the Conference red and gold. A driver sat up sat the front of the bus, pushed into a corner in a seat that set him lower to the ground but still at least five feet above it. He tipped his hat at her as she passed by, and she awkwardly nodded back.

Selena picked a seat towards the middle and tossed her backpack into it, settling herself in the side beside the window. Each trainer had a seat to themselves, but Lily, in her usual fashion, wormed her way up the line away from the juniors and scooted into the seat in front of Selena.

"Can you believe this?" she asked, her voice a low whisper. She was trembling with excitement. "We actually are in this thing!"

"I know!" Selena's heart pounded as she imagined herself on the stage, battling for the trophy. "How did your audition go? Obviously well."

Lily laughed. "It was pretty scary. They asked me a whole bunch of questions and then had me battle one of them—the older one, Lacie Glass. I could tell she was going easy on me. She only sent out a Wingull! Can you believe that? A _Wingull. _I took it down with Shinx easy." Her eyes drifted to the side, watching the city go by out the windows. "The rest of the battle was just easy. I can't believe we were right in front of two past Champions, the mentor of them all, and a rock star!"

"You've heard of him, then?" Selena asked.

Lily looked surprised. "Blitz Airborne? Uh, yeah? You mean you haven't? What, have you been living under a rock? He's only the most famous singer out there now. I'm sure you've heard his songs before. 'Legend of Thunder,' 'Through the Wild Wings,' 'Crashing into Nothing.' No?"

"Definitely not," Selena said. "I guess I'm missing out."

"Maybe." Lily shrugged. "His music is alright. I don't really care for it, but his songs are really, really catchy." She grinned a little. "But he was pretty handsome, wasn't he?"

"I guess so." Selena tugged at a strand of her hair with absent fingers. "He looked like he needed a shower."

"That's how he's supposed to look!" Lily laughed. "He's an idol singer! That's what they look like. I guess he wants to look more like a bird or something. His deal is his Flying-types."

"Yeah, he had a Skarmory."

"He used that against you?" She put her head to one side. "And you won, right?"

"I wouldn't be here if I hadn't, I don't think."

"Don't be so sure." The dark-haired boy Selena had seen standing next to Lily earlier leaned across the aisle. "A lot of trainers beat the judges and still didn't make it. They base the whole thing on everything you did—how you look, how your team is with you, how you give commands—everything." He flicked his long bangs out of his eyes. "I'm Jake Ricker."

"Selena Clark. And this is Lily…er—" She looked helplessly at her friend.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Lily Rosa."

Jake laughed a little. "Two flowers in one name?"

"Hey, one's kind of not a flower," she protested, tugging at the hem of her sleeve in embarrassment.

Jake's smile was a little higher on one side, like Blitz's. "What's your specialty? Your team, I mean."

"Mismatched," Lily answered.

"And I'm offensive."

"Same here." Jake pulled out one of the Pokéballs from his pocket and held it out: it was scuffed and scratched, obvious signs of age. "Me and Salamence. We're all about attacking first and having the right kind of speed to do it."

"Aren't you a little young to have a Salamence?" Selena asked skeptically.

A brush of red touched Jake's cheeks. "Are you doubting my training? Or my team?" he demanded.

"No, I was just asking." Selena held up her hands. "Calm down."

Jake stayed bristled for another second longer before leaning back. "Yes," he said suddenly. "I am. It's not mine. I inherited it from my brother. It was his last Pokémon before he died."

"Died!" Lily's blue eyes widened in horror.

Jake looked away. "It's nothing. But Salamence is mine now and we're going to win this thing."

Lily and Selena exchanged a glance. "So what else is on your team?" Lily asked pleasantly, clearly trying to change the subject.

Jake watched her sullenly through his bangs for a moment before straightening. "I have an Espeon."

"Really? I have an Eevee! A shiny." Her voice was touched with pride.

Jake's eyes widened. "No way!"

"Yeah! My br—my brother got him for me." Selena saw her wince a little as she said the word, but Jake didn't look offended.

"You _have _to show it to me. You have to."

"If you show me your Espeon!"

Selena leaned back in her seat, laying her head against the cold glass. The air-conditioner between the window and the paneling sent up a gentle stream of cool air that pushed at the ends of her hair. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to doze off, lulled by the soft conversation of trainers all around her.

"Selena!" Lily's high voice snapped her out of her light sleep. "We're here! Oh my gosh, it's so _huge!_" She was standing, swaying as the bus shifted to a slow stop, and looked like she was about to burst out of her skin. Her blue eyes darted over to Selena and she said excitedly, "Come on! Get up, get up, get up!"

Jake was already on his feet, grabbing his bag and heaving it over his shoulder. "Wow," he said, his voice flat with shock. He dipped his head to look out the window over Lily's shoulder. "That's a big building."

They were shuffled off the bus in a quick order. Selena was surprised to see Lily and Jake both thank the bus driver, who tipped his red hat to them. _Is that what you're supposed to do on buses? _she wondered. She'd never thanked the driver of her parent's limo before.

The hotel was huge, as Lily had pointed out. At least ten stories, it had a line of windows every floor and a balcony to match, each overhung with tangles of ivy and yellow-flowered honeysuckle. The air was cool here, but edged with a metallic wetness that she knew meant coming rain—she could hear the far distant sounds of rumbling thunder—and there was a slight breeze that tugged at Selena's jacket. The path leading up to the sienna-colored double doors was made of large, flat bricks that swirled into the shapes of leaping Pokémon. From just a quick glance, Selena could see the definite outlines of the legendary Arceus with its branching antlers, but the main mural in the very middle of the path right in front of the doors was one of an arch-backed Ninetails, with its tails flaring behind it like the streams of fireworks.

The door opened and a line of orderlies leapt into action. Twenty of them—one for each trainer—walked up and stood beside them. Selena's was an older man with stately white hair and pristine, unmarked cloth gloves. His red vest was smoothed into impeccable straightness, the shiny golden badge pinned to the front glowing as if lit from behind.

"I am Silas and I'll be your attendant for your stay, Miss Clark," he said, inclining his head to her, and extending a hand.

"Er, Selena please," she said, shaking his hand. Her stomach did a somersault from the sudden reintroduction to high class society.

"Selena," he acquiesced politely.

When she looked up from him, Selena saw a beautiful, elegant woman standing on the foot of the stairs, her hair swept up into a sleek blonde bun on the top of her head. Her dress was made of heavy, pale blue silk and printed with a design of darker flowers. "Welcome," she said, spreading her arms wide as if to embrace them all; the wind had picked up and ruffled the edge of her skirts. "Welcome, trainers, to the Hearthome Gardens Hotel. My name is Sylvia and I am the owner. Our beautiful site will be your home for the next three weeks as you hone your skills and train your Pokémon for the upcoming event. If there is anything you need—anything at all—please ask your personal assistant. They are here to serve you, as am I." She smiled, and her teeth were white and even. "Please make yourselves at home and do not be afraid to ask for help. We have dedicated the entirety of the tenth floor for your use. You will receive a key"—she held one up now, a flat white card—"and a map of the premise." She held up one of those, too. "Our battle courts are in the back of the hotel between it and our lake."

"A lake, did you hear that?" Lily nudged Selena's shoulder. "I wonder if we can swim in it?"

Selena shrugged. She'd never swam much before and was laughably bad at it regardless.

Sylvia clapped her hands and the orderlies snapped to attention, leading their charges up the path and into the hotel.

The inside of the building was dripping with crystals—chandeliers, lampshades, tassels—and overwhelmingly rich. The floors were so clean and white, interspaced with black tiles like squares of onyx, it was like Selena was looking into a mirror. On the walls hung heavy tapestries of the olden times of the world—Selena saw the supposed Pokémon Mew curling over and over on itself in one, its eyes embroidered in silvery-blue that made them look like they were almost glowing—as well as paintings. On one entire wall was a line of the former owners of the hotel, their faces very narrow and refined: obviously related to Sylvia.

The trainers were ushered to the elevator, which was large enough to fit all of them plus their attendants in only two trips. Selena stood next to Lily, who was nearly beside herself with giddiness, as the elevator lifted them smoothly into the air, opening on the tenth floor with a ding.

The hotel staff had outdone themselves. On each room was a placard in gold, outlining the trainer's name and category—identical to the badge Selena was wearing at this very moment.

"How did they get our names so quickly?" Selena whispered to Lily, but her friend was already distracted with a floral arrangement in the shape of a Pokéball.

"Selena, look! Oh my gosh, everything is so beautiful! Can you believe this? Can you _believe _we're here right now? It's so amazing!" Her attendant, a weary-looking old woman, followed her patiently, explaining in a soft voice everything that the staff had done to the rooms.

Selena's attendant, Silas, asked, "May I escort you to your room, Selena?"

"Yes, please." All the other trainers were distracted with their own rooms, so why not check her own suite out?

Silas led her down the hall—she waved goodbye to Lily, who headed farther down the same hall to a door at the very end—and stopped at a door. "Your room, Selena."

Selena traced her own name on the placard before pulling out the keycard. She looked around for the slot to slide it down when Silas reached out and gently guided her hand to the brass plate next to the door.

"Slide it here. There's a sensor under this metal."

She followed his instructions and the door cracked open. Her pack fell to the ground with a slight rattle of metal as she stared at the room, blinking rapidly.

It was lavish, as she'd expected, but so much more than she'd believed.

There were three rooms. The one she was in now seemed to be a living room—complete with couch, small table, and television—combined with a kitchen that had all the necessary appliances and a fridge large enough to hold a month's worth of food. The door far against the window—through which she could see the training grounds and the lake, which was hemmed with sand so pale it looked white in the fading sun—seemed to lead to the bedroom. Another door led to a mystery room she couldn't see into.

"Will you be needing anything else, Selena?" Silas asked.

"No. No thank you." Selena blinked. _This is incredible. I can't believe this. _

"Very well. Dinner will be served in an hour and a half in our dining hall on the first floor. You'll receive the rules of the tournament there." He bent his head in her direction. "Please call me if you need anything. My number"—he pulled a small card out of his front pocket and handed it over—"if you need anything. Don't worry about the time. Please enjoy your stay here." He bowed again, then shut the door and was gone.

Selena waited until the door was totally closed before turning quickly and heading to her bedroom, a little squeal of her own delight surprising her. The bed was _huge—_enough for five people shoulder-to-shoulder—and a soft, pale beige trimmed in brown. Laughing, she threw herself onto it, feeling herself sink deep into luxurious softness. She sighed, closing her eyes.

_This is amazing, _she thought.

Without opening her eyes, she fished her Pokéballs out of her pockets and released her team. Houndoom immediately jumped up onto the bed next to her. At the sinking softness, he jolted, craning his neck back and tilting his head in total shock. Then, hesitantly, he poked the bed, prodding more vigorously until he was bouncing up and down, clearly enjoying himself.

Mightyena was more wary of everything. He went off, tail in the air, to investigate the entire suite.

Lairon lifted Trapinch onto the bed with her large head, then settled herself onto the ground next to the bed, not even trying to leap onto it. Raichu followed Trapinch, patting her orange shell with happy paws as he looked at his surroundings.

Selena laughed, scooping Trapinch close to her chest. The little Pokémon turned in her arms to look up at her, eyes glittering with happiness.

"We did it," Selena whispered to her, hugging the little Pokémon tightly. "We're in."

Raichu gave a little cheer of happiness, flicking his tail wildly. The side of it hit Houndoom on the cheek and he turned to Raichu, blinking slowly. Then he pounced at him, knocking the two of them off the bed and onto the floor, where they wrestled back and forth. Raichu, being smaller and much quicker, darted out from under Houndoom's massive frame and scurried up onto the bed again, reprimanding his teammate with a high voice. Houndoom hung his head sadly for a moment, eyes wide and soft-looking, until he lost interest just as quickly, turning to go find Mightyena.

Raichu puffed out his chest. "Rai," he said proudly, turning to Selena for approval.

She ruffled his ear—the good one—and said, "You both are such dorks."

Raichu lifted his chin for her scratching fingers to reach.

There was a knock at the door. Selena groaned, already enjoying the feeling of simply laying around and doing nothing, then got up.

It was Lily, with Jake just behind her. He peered around her shoulder, his long hair swinging around his face.

"Cool," he said. "Yours is identical to mine."

"Backwards from mine," Lily said cheerfully, walking into the room without an invitation. She looked around, her hands clasped together over her chest as if she was praying. "This is so exciting," she burst out for about the hundredth time. Her eyes alighted on something behind Selena and she darted forward, scooping Trapinch up into arms and cuddling her close.

"This is your team?" Jake asked, eyes darting around appraisingly.

Proudly, Selena said, "Yep. Trained them all myself, too. Mightyena here from a little Poochyena." She held out a hand to where Mightyena was sulking by the door to the bedroom. He stood in the doorway, head lowered, only showing up to his shoulders. She waved him forward but he wouldn't move.

"Not used to people, I guess," Jake said lightly, holding out his hands for Houndoom to rather sloppily sniff.

Selena eyed him suspiciously. "Sure."

Lily was bouncing Trapinch up and down like a baby, and the little orange Pokémon was doing her happy little rasp, clearly enjoying the attention. "So cute," Lily cooed. "So precious."

"It'll be worth a lot more when it's a Flygon," Jake said critically.

Lily glared at him. She laid a hand against the side of Trapinch's face as if to block the sound of Jake's voice. "She's worth plenty now!"

At the word _now, _a huge clap of thunder issued from outside.

Houndoom whirled around at the sound, a growl rising in his throat. Even calm Lairon looked on edge, shifting from paw to heavy paw.

"Whoa," Jake breathed. "It's really getting rough out there."

"It was pretty cloudy when we came in," Lily noted, going to the windows and parting the curtains. Outside, the harsh wind pushed over the palm trees that had only been delicately waving before into almost ninety-degree angles. The lake, broad and expansive out the window and edged with a white sand beach like lace, was choppy and iron-gray, the spray lifting up off the surface. Selena joined her at the window, watching a cloud of black-winged Starly and Staravia struggling to keep aloft as the gale shunted them around.

Lily turned away but Selena watched, spotting a speck of pale brown in the distance, streaked with red and yellow. It was a Pidgeot, its wide, powerful wings beating out a channel in the turbulent air. As she watched, it turned her way, its black-marked eyes boring into hers for a split-second, then it dived down back into the dense forest and was gone.

Selena pulled closed the curtains slowly, her hands lingering on the rich brown fabric. Pidgeot didn't live this close to the city, did they? She'd thought for sure they were found in more rural, woodsy areas. True, the hotel was on the very edge of the city—far enough away for their high-paying guests not to hear sounds of traffic or announcements from the Contest Hall—but not far enough to be considered territory for large Pokémon like that. They weren't even very common in Sinnoh anyway.

"You okay?" Lily had obviously not seen anything. She had dropped to the ground cross-legged and was watching her Eevee, Suzaku, play with Trapinch. Uncharacteristically, Trapinch didn't go for his thick, furry tail. _Maybe she senses he's just a hatchling, _Selena thought.

"Yeah, of course," Selena answered casually. "Just those Starly."

"Trying to fly closer to the forest, I guess," Jake said. He rubbed Houndoom's rib-like protrusions appraisingly—Selena recognized that calculating look of hardcore Pokémon trainers as he sized up his competition. "Away from the wind on the water."

"Probably."

At that moment, another crash of thunder issued from outside like a roar. The lights snapped off, leaving them in total darkness.

Lily had let out a little cry of surprise, echoed by Suzaku, and the two of them huddled together. "The power's out!" she announced.

"Oh, _really? _Good. I was wondering why it got all dark." Jake's sarcastic voice came through the darkness. "Hold on, I've got this."

There was a bright red flash and then he said, "Help us out, huh?"

"Phraa," something said, and then a steady, golden glow started, pulsing with red like a heartbeat.

"Ampharos," Lily said, surprised.

The Electric-type shook its head, from which another beam of red light shone, and made a honking sound that was adorable.

Jake petted Ampharos on the head, rubbing at the red stone from which the light came. "My best Pokémon," he said proudly. "I trained him from a Mareep. Got him in a trade for a Shinx."

"I've got a Shinx!" Lily said excitedly. "It's going to evolve soon! I hope to have it as a Luxray by the competition."

"You better train hard, then," he said, flipping his hair back and trying to look nonchalant. "I've already got my whole team planned out. We're just going to train even harder and make us better."

Selena heard another knock at the door and barely repressed a groan. Two people were enough company without adding anymore, especially since they were squabbling from the power loss. And besides, she had wanted to take a nap—an objective that was quickly foiled by both Houndoom and these two juniors.

It was Poppy. "Hi!" she said cheerfully, holding up a napkin full of what looked like cubes of meat and cheese. "I found these downstairs. They'll just give you whatever you want here; it's ridiculous. Wanna share? I heard voices inside and thought you had a group over. We could all eat together since the power's out." She smiled tentatively.

Poppy was one of those girls who wore skirts and sequined blouses, put wide bows in her hair—it was a white one today, and large enough to see past the contours of her face—and curled her long blonde hair into gentle waves, swept back into a high ponytail. Despite this, Selena liked her, probably for her overwhelming niceness and her obvious talent as a trainer: she had to be good to get past the audition.

Selena returned her smile just as tentatively. "Sure. Come on in." She threw open the door and allowed Poppy to pass. Looking out into the hallway, she noticed that there were a few of the hotel staff running around. _Probably trying to fix the power problem, _she thought, shutting the door behind her and going back to the group.

Poppy had already taken a seat and introduced herself. Lily, unsurprisingly, was already plying the older girl with questions about her team, all the while stroking Suzaku's silvery fur.

Jake, however, went straight for the food. Picking up one of the meat cubes, he noted, "These are cold."

"It's okay," Poppy said. "I can help that." She nodded at his Ampharos. "Just like that." She fished around in her pockets and found a Pokéball—accented with stars around the white button in the center—and released a Quilava. She walked to Selena's tiny kitchen and came back with an oven rack and a metal stand. Setting it on the ground and adjusting the height, she asked, "Quilava, curl under this rack, won't you?"

Quilava yawned widely, then did as it was told. Once it was under the metal, it arched its back, the flames licking out from its fur in a short fringe, and began to heat the food.

"Good job," Poppy praised it, giving it a cube of cheese to gnaw on while it worked.

"Fire-types?" Selena asked. "Is that your specialty?"

Poppy smiled. "Fire and Ice," she announced. "I figured it's best to mix elements, right?"

"You can burn and freeze all at once," Jake said approvingly. "I'm more for speed and high attack."

"Mine's a mix-and-match," Lily said, plucking a cube from the rack and tasting it. "Delicious," she cooed, already going back for a second.

"What about you, Selena?" Poppy asked, stroking Quilava's short blue ears. "What's your team?"

"All offensive." The meat was slightly burned on the bottom from Quilava's heat but it was alright. "I don't go for status-reducers."

"The best one is to put the Pokémon to sleep," Jake said. "Or poison them. Then they'll weaken."

"I'd rather freeze them," Poppy said. "Then you don't have to hurry. Unless it's Fire-type," she added in an afterthought.

"It sounds so bad to think of it that way," Lily said, feeding Trapinch a bit of cheese. "Poisoning and hurting Pokémon like that."

"It's part of battle," Jake said.

"I know," Lily said angrily. "I love to battle and everything, but it just sounds so…harsh."

"I know what you mean," Poppy said. "It's just something you have to get used to. Pokémon love to battle. It's a way to test out their strength against others. It's a pride thing."

Selena looked round for Mightyena, who was still creeping in the doorway. She thought about the thrill of battle singing through her veins like boiling water and knew it was the same for him. He loved to battle just as much as she did, no matter what. She held out a hand to him and he came to her, pushing his nose against her palm. His skin was hot and dry, a reminder that he still needed to go to a Pokémon center and heal. She'd given him a few sprays of Potion to ward off any shakiness, but it was always best to let the professionals help out.

The other three chattered away while Selena sat there happily, enjoying the company of people who were like her—battlers. Pokémon lovers. Friends. The word fit surprisingly well, despite how long she'd known them. In a weird kind of way, it felt comfortable. Homey in a way that her house and family never had been.

The lights flickered, then snapped on again. There was the sighing gust of the air-conditioner turning on, and a rush of cold air hit them.

"Thank goodness," Lily said, rubbing her greasy hands on her jeans. "Maybe they'll serve us dinner now. Let's go check." She turned to look down at Selena. "Coming?" she asked cheerfully.

Selena smiled. "Sure. Let's go."

* * *

**Super lame ending, I know, but my mom's been riding me to go. "Are you going? If you're not coming now, I'm going without you. What are you doing, anyway? Are you writing? What are you doing? Stop doing that and come on, or we're going to be late. Did you hear me?" **

**BLAH BLAH BLAH, YOU'RE SO LOUD. LET ME WRITE, LADY.**

**Pfft. Moms.**

**Anyway.**

**R&R~**

**Shadow**


	10. Chapter 10

**Yaaay, two close updates! I'm such a nerd. XD**

* * *

After dinner, which was composed of some kind of delicious white meat in orange sauce with potatoes and yeasty bread that was flaky in her fingers, Selena said goodnight to her newfound friends and headed back up to bed. Her room was cool and dark because of the storm raging outside, but it didn't seem like the power would be out again soon. The hotel staff was highly competent and eager to please: on her way to the elevator, Selena had been stopped twice to be asked if she needed anything. It made her uncomfortable, mostly because she didn't like people doing so much for her, but also because of her parents.

In the two weeks since she'd left home, they'd called her phone several times, but they'd never left a message. It looked like they'd accepted her leaving home—at least for now.

She kicked off her shoes and slouched on the couch, looking at the blank screen of her phone. Should she call them? Surely they were worried with where she was and what she was doing—not to mention her absence from school and their social life. But something tugged at her. Lily was old enough to be out by herself and her parents weren't worried for her. In fact, one of the rules of the Conference was the absence of aid by other people, so her parents couldn't help her even if they wanted to.

Selena pulled a face, setting the phone down on the table. Swinging her legs around, she clasped her hands beneath her chin and looked at it. Her insides were squirming with guilt. Now that she had nothing to worry about for awhile—besides the obvious training she needed to do—all the thought she'd been repressing came flooding over her. She felt bad for doing that to her parents but still felt the undeniable sense of relief to be out from under her mother's oppressive shadow.

_Maybe I should call them, _she thought. _Just to tell them I'm okay. I don't want them sending the police to look for me or something. _

She scooped up her phone and flicked it open. She dialed home and hit _send, _only to be beeped at. "No service," she muttered. The window was no better. _The room must be doing it_, she thought.

Grabbing her jacket, she swung it around her shoulders and headed for the door. She made it to the elevator uninterrupted, but was stopped at the door by the desk clerk.

"Is there something wrong, Miss Clark?" she asked politely.

"I need to make a call." She held up her phone unnecessarily.

The clerk's eyes widened. "The phone in your room is inaccessible?"

_Crap. I didn't even think of that. _"I'd like to just use my cell," she replied. "May I go outside?"

The clerk looked unsure. "The weather is very bad," she said slowly.

"It'll be quick," Selena promised, pushing her way out the door before the woman could stop her.

Outside, the wind was still at it, gusting the rain until it was coming down nearly sideways. Selena turned up the collar of her jacket and hurried into the shelter of the woods.

Inside, everything was wet and dripping. The leaves looked vibrantly green, almost unreal, and the moss that hung from the trees was soaked with rainwater. It studded the surface like liquid diamonds.

Selena wandered far enough into the woods so she knew she wouldn't be overheard, then pulled out her phone, flipping her wet, dark hair behind her shoulders. She hunched over the phone, blinking the drips out of her eyes, and hesitated, biting her lip. Then, she pushed the first number of her parents' phone number.

There was a sharp crack in the forest ahead of her.

She looked up, startled, her wet bangs clinging to her forehead and hanging into her eyes. She flicked them away with a twist of her head, melting back against a dark-barked tree. Her back pressed against the wet surface as she tried to make herself invisible.

Someone came stumbling through the undergrowth ahead of her. Whoever it was, the person was clumsy, clearly unused to walking through the forest. Selena pulled her collar higher, eyes sharply looking when the person burst through into the little channel of clear space she'd found.

Her jaw dropped. It was Blitz Airborne.

She recognized him immediately, even though his distinctive ornament-filled hair was damp and plastered to his face. He was soaked to the skin, his jacket and jeans clinging to him. He looked exhausted, and to her alarm, she saw a streak of blood across one cheek.

He was leaning heavily to the side, as if his leg was hurting him. As she watched, he leaned back against a tree and slid down it, clutching his knee. He let out a low hiss of pain and muttered something under his breath.

_Crap, _she thought. She was right in his line of sight. Something in the back of her mind told her she should probably go help him—he was obviously injured—but some baser part of her told her to keep hidden.

She shifted her weight, trying to press back into the bark of the tree. Her jacket rasped along it, barely audibly.

Blitz looked up, his eyes boring exactly and precisely in her direction.

"Um," she said. "Hi."

"You!" he exclaimed, eyes widening. "Selena!"

Surprised that he remembered her name, she said, "Yeah. Are you…are you okay?"

He cursed under his breath. "No. I got in a bit of an argument with a Staraptor. Apparently, they don't appreciate people walking too close to their nests." He frowned, his brow furrowing.

"Do you need help? I can bring you back to the hotel—"

"No!" he burst out before she'd even finished speaking. "No, not there. There are too many cameras there. They'll see me."

It was almost surreal, to be having this conversation with a famous person. Selena had met a lot of people but none as well-known as Blitz Airborne. He was a rock star by everyone's standards. And now that his music had been pointed out to her, Selena noticed it playing everywhere: in the restaurant earlier that evening during dinner, in the music-players the trainers carried around, being sung in ludicrously high voices by two of the juniors.

She stepped closer to him, eyeing the wound she could now see. Blood was saturated in his left sleeve. "You need medical attention. If you don't want to be seen, I can bring you something. You need to get out of the rain or you're going to get sick."

He smiled condescendingly. "You don't get colds from the rain, darling."

"I meant from infection," she snapped. "Your arm is laid open and you need to have it fixed. I know there are first-aid kits in all the rooms—"

"Wait, there are?" Now he sounded interested. "Okay. Take me there, then. To your room. Fix me up." His words had the ring of a command to them.

Selena was torn between smacking the smug, pretentious look off his face or actually helping him. He seemed to be putting off this arrogant aura to push off the pain he must be feeling, so she decided to let it slide. Besides, he was famous, right? At the very least, she'd get bragging rights about the incident since, in spite of all her dismissal and outright denial, she knew Lily loved Blitz Airborne's music.

"Okay, fine. I'll take you." She peeled off her jacket and handed it over to him. He stared down at it without comprehension. "To hide your face," she snapped. _Idiot, _she added silently.

He took it, putting it on over his own and pulling the collar up. With his flattened hair and depressed expression, hopefully no one would notice him.

They began walking back to the hotel, Selena leading the way and Blitz following her sullenly.

"Hey," he said slowly.

"What?" she demanded.

"…Never mind."

She sighed impatiently. "What?" She turned around to see him staring at her intensely.

"You don't know who I am, do you?" he asked.

"You're Blitz Airborne," she said. "I know that much."

"You don't know my music. You're not a fan."

"How can you tell?" she asked, deciding to play along.

"Well, for one"—he held up a finger—"you didn't totally attack me when you saw me."

"Most sane people wouldn't do that," she interrupted.

"And two," he continued, without acknowledging her words. "You didn't recognize me when I battled you. I can tell. You didn't have that insane fangirl eye-thing going on."

"Eye-thing?"

"You know. Like this." He widened his eyes, making his breath quick, and put his clasped hands up against his cheek. He fluttered his eyelids. "Like that," he said, grinning.

Selena repressed a laugh. "Yeah, I definitely don't do the eye-thing."

They walked in silence for another few minutes and he burst out, "How can you not know who I am?"

Her annoyance returning, she forced politeness and said, "I guess you're just not popular where I'm from."

"Where are you from?" he asked skeptically, raising one eyebrow.

"Hearthome," she said vaguely.

"But I'm popular here. I'm popular everywhere." He sounded genuinely confused.

"Why are you so upset that I don't know who you are?" she demanded, whirling to face him. He hadn't stopped walking, so he nearly collided with her. She noticed that he was half a head taller than her and by far more muscular, even in his weakened state.

He put his head to the side, making one of his string braids—this one brown and white—brush his shoulder. "I don't know," he admitted in a soft voice.

He looked so open and vulnerable in that moment. Selena blinked.

He seemed to catch himself then, because that cocky grin jumped back effortlessly to his face. "Hurry up, darling. I'm soaked to the bone."

Selena, bewildered by his sudden change, turned her back to him and said nothing else until they were in the building again.

The clerk looked up at their entrance and Selena muttered, "Let me handle this," to Blitz. "Hi," she said warmly, leaning right on the desk. "I wanted to ask you a question about room service. Like, how does that work?"

The clerk brightened. "All you have to do is call the number and we'll bring anything you want to you, Miss Clark. You are a valued member of our Hearthome Gardens Hotel family. We are here to serve you and make sure that your time here is not only memorable, but also productive."

"And your training center, how does that work?" Selena was acutely away of Blitz walking just past her through the lobby, the collar of his borrowed coat upturned. "Like, do I have to make an appointment?"

"If you wish. I can make one for you now, if you'd like." She pulled out a pen from a drawer, scribbling something down on a notepad. "What time is good for you tomorrow? And would you like a battling partner to be supplied for you?"

"Anytime after ten is fine with me," Selena said, hurried now. Blitz was lingering awkwardly by the elevator. "And I don't need a battle partner. My friend Lily Rosa will be with me."

"Lily with one L or two?"

"Um, one, I think." Selena tapped her fingers on the desk as the woman finished the document, handed it to Selena to sign, then filed it away in her drawer.

"You're all set." She smiled.

"Thank you!" Selena said, smiling back, then she hurried away to the elevator. "You could have hit the button," she grumbled, pushing it for him.

"I could have," he agreed irritatingly.

They got in the elevator and Selena said pointedly, "Tenth floor."

Blitz looked like he was going to laugh. He pushed the button.

They made it uninterrupted up to the floor and got out of the elevator. It was late—too late to be wandering around—but they dashed to the room quickly. Selena pressed her keycard to the plate and opened the door quickly, pulling Blitz in behind her and shutting the door.

"Where's the light?" Blitz's voice was disembodied in the darkness.

"Right here." Selena reached past him, brushing his arm along the way and jumping from the contact, and snapped on the light. It came on blindingly bright, illuminating Blitz's sharp-featured face and soaking clothes. Suddenly self-conscious, she walked past him to the kitchen, digging around under the cabinets. "It's not in here," she grumbled.

Blitz had walked to the window, peeking out at the stormy night. "Oh," he said disinterestedly.

Selena shot him a look, then headed to the bathroom. The first-aid kit was under the sink, and she wondered why she hadn't looked there in the first place.

She returned to where Blitz had perched himself on the end of the coffee table. "Where are you bleeding from?" she asked him, snapping open the box. It was full of bandages, gauze, creams for infection and itching, some disinfectant spray, and a few Super Potions for Pokémon. Storing that bit of information away, she pulled out a bottle of the peroxide and a gauze pad, turning back to Blitz. Her heart stopped in her chest.

He'd removed his jackets—both hers and his own—leaving him only in his white undershirt. The fabric was sopping with blood, which blossomed from around his upper arm and back like someone had spilled paint there.

"Holy crap," she breathed. "What did you do to yourself?"

His eyebrows crinkled down over his eyes. "Mm," he said, sounding almost clinical. "That doesn't look good."

"You're going to need stitches. You need to go to the hospital."

"No way!" he said, fiercely. "I don't need to. Here, just fix it. Bandages or whatever."

"You're going to need more than that! I can't fix that with just a few bandages!"

"Then use a lot of bandages," he said testily.

She pursed her lips. "Fine." Gently, she peeled up the edge of his sleeve, highly conscious of his yellow eyes on her. It was a deep gash—more than one, she realized, as she pushed his sleeve up more—and stretched all the way up his arm and down his back. She pulled back, feeling a little sick.

"What?" he demanded.

"It's really bad," she informed him. "Like, really really bad."

"Are you going to be sick?" A smile was toying around his lips.

She frowned at him. "No," she said, probably too defensively because he laughed. She dumped some peroxide on a pad of gauze and pressed it to the wound, feeling a rush of dark satisfaction when she saw him wince.

"Careful!" he reproached.

"Then don't talk down to me," she snapped right back. She cleaned the wound again but this time she was more gentle, scraping all the bits of leaves and dirt that had gotten in under his skin. _Talk about getting under someone's skin, _she thought, frowning.

Blitz made a little sound in the back of his throat but said nothing else.

The silence between them was stretched and awkward. Selena didn't know what to say to this boy who clearly thought she should be fawning all over him. _It's strange, _she thought, tying the bandages into a rather sloppy knot. _You'd think he'd be happy to find someone who didn't fall to pieces in his presence. _

"Are those natural?" she asked suddenly.

"Yes," he said immediately. "I work out all the time." He flexed his arm mockingly.

"I didn't mean your muscles, moron," she said disparagingly. "I meant your eyes."

"Oh." He sounded surprised. "You're the first one who's ever asked me that."

"Really?" Now it was her turn to be surprised. "What, yellow eyes are natural now, huh?"

He shrugged. "People don't really look at my eyes. But no, they're not. My manager thought it would make me look more bird-like. More stage presence, or whatever. They're contacts."

"Do you like them?" she asked skeptically. She'd always been thankful for her perfect vision—contacts and glasses seemed like a pain to her.

"Not really," he said, tugging experimentally on the dressing. "But whatever. They make me look more edgy, so I guess it's good."

"And your name's fake, too, right?"

His smile was sardonic. "You're a downright genius, darling. Yes, it's a stage name."

"What's your real name?" she pressed.

He laughed. "I think that's enough questions for one night."

Sensing a dismissal, she stood. "Okay. You're done."

He stood more slowly, wiping his hands off on his still-damp jeans. "Okay," he said too, but he didn't move.

Selena watched him. "Are you, uh, going to leave?"

Blitz toyed with a thin leather bracelet on his wrist—one of many. "I don't know," he said. "I don't have anywhere to go."

"Don't you have a place to stay?" At his silence, something popped into her head. "Are you running away?"

"No, don't be stupid," he snapped. "As if I could do that. They'd find me in a blink of an eye. There's nowhere I can go to get away from them." Despite his tone, something edged his voice that made Selena feel sorry for him.

But only for a minute.

"So, darling," he said, turning to her with that rakish smile back on his face. "Mind if I crash here?"

Selena was stunned. "In my _room?"_

"Oh, I wasn't implying that, you naïve girl," he chuckled. "The couch would do fine. I need to fly under the radar for awhile. And why not do it amongst friends?"

"I'm not your friend," Selena said.

He winced. "Cold." He drew out the word into multiple, singsongy syllables. "Well, you're the closest I've got. So what do you say? Pleeeeease? Don't make me beg. It's cold outside. It's raining. I'm a poor, cold, wet, lonely, famous, fabulously wealthy rock star that can make it worth your while."

"Well, now that you've proven your humility," Selena said, "you can get out of my room."

He looked genuinely hurt. "Come on," he pleaded. "Don't make me go back. I swear, just this one time. I'll… I dunno. I'll do whatever you want." Something seemed to occur to him then, suddenly. "I'll help you train for the Conference."

She scoffed. "Yeah right."

"Seriously. I'm a judge, so I know how it's run. I can get you a leg up on the competition."

"Okay, for one, that's illegal. For another, I don't know if I'd want _you _teaching me. I totally owned you in the qualifier."

To her surprise, he dropped his gaze and looked embarrassed. Scuffing the floor with the toe of his shoe, he said, "That's different."

"How so?"

"Are you going to let me stay here or not?" he demanded impatiently.

Selena looked at him for a moment. He looked so different from his cocky persona he put on in front of people. He looked miserable, grouchy, but most of all desperate. She wondered if he normally was like this.

Then she looked away sharply. "Fine," she said, almost as an exhale. "But you're sleeping out here on the couch. And don't get any weird ideas about walking around outside. You'd cause a riot."

The smile that crept up higher on one side of his face made him look incredibly handsome; she felt her cheeks warm. "Thank you," he said, sounding completely genuine.

She averted her gaze again. "No problem. Don't make me regret this."

"I won't," he promised.

She got him the extra pillows and blankets out of her impressively-sized closet. He took them gratefully enough, but she saw him stroke his thumb down the side of the blanket. She'd seen her mother do the same thing and knew what he was doing: checking the thread-count. The thought made her frown—reminded once again of the snooty high-class way of living, not to mention her mother—and she said rather stiffly, "Goodnight."

He seemed to sense he'd displeased her, because he awkwardly bounced on the balls of his feet. "Goodnight."

She went back to her door and closed it before he could say anything else. She left her hand on the doorknob for a moment longer, her heart racing. _There is a famous singer in my hotel room, _she thought blankly. _Poppy would die if she knew. _

But no one could know, and that was what was so aggravating. Blitz was obviously trying to get away from someone—his fans, his manager, whatever—and was asking for her discretion. And, as kind of nerve-wracking as it was, Selena knew she wouldn't give up his secret. Besides, she thought with a little smile, this would make a really cool story later.

She changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed. She released her team to find their sleeping spots for the night.

Immediately, Mightyena went to the door, his hackles up. He growled, putting his nose to the door.

"Come on, bud," she called. "Sleep time."

He growled again and did not move.

"Mightyena," she ordered. "Come."

He turned to look at her, eyes wide, then turned back to the door. With a huff, he settled himself in front of it, head on his paws.

"Suit yourself." She reached out and cuddled Raichu to her instead. He curled up close to her chest, whisking his lightning bolt-shaped tail over his little black nose and falling asleep almost immediately. Trapinch lay on her side beside Selena, her round head on the pillow, while Houndoom splayed out all his legs in a different direction, his belly up in the air. Lairon, characteristically, laid down on the floor beside the bed—a huge, shiny dome of metal in the darkness.

The room was quiet and calm, the storm outside making the darkness cool and comfortable. She closed her eyes, yawning, and drifted off to sleep.

Not until she woke up the next morning did she remember that she'd totally forgotten to call her parents.

* * *

**This one was a little shorter than usual, so...sorry. XD For the next chapter, I might put in some of Blitz Airborne's song lyrics. I'm trying to make him as cheesy as possible, as evident from his stage name. Maybe I'll have him have some totally snobbish-sounding name to make up for it or something. Whatevs~**

**So I'm gonna go watch Ghost Adventures and eat ice cream now. 'Ta!**

**R&R~**

**Shadow**


	11. Chapter 11

**You know, I've been looking at this thing called a "Nuzlocke challenge." You basically go through a game of Pokémon where if a Pokémon faints, it's considered "dead" and you have to release it. You also can only catch the first Pokémon you encounter in a route/area, and you nickname all your Pokémon, which is something that I don't usually do. It would seem to make a very interesting fic concept. XD**

**But wouldn't it suck if you lost that very first battle with your starter versus Gary's? **

**Anyway. Food for thought. **

**Onto the story!**

* * *

Even through a haze of sleep, mixed with turbulent dreams of bent trees and hail that shattered the sidewalk, Selena could smell something burning. Without thinking, she leapt out of bed, carrying the still-asleep Trapinch with her, and burst into the main room.

Blitz was standing at the stove, poking something around with the end of a spatula. He looked up as she stood, wild-eyed, in the doorway. With a flick of his yellow eyes, he looked her up and down, then announced with a smirk, "Nice jammies."

Selena, glancing down at her overlarge shirt—a Golden Star Conference shirt that had been placed on her bed when she first arrived at the hotel—and her pajama pants spotted with Pokéballs, backed up quickly until just her head was sticking out of the doorway. "What are you doing?" she hissed, alarming Trapinch, who had finally opened her eyes.

He held up the spatula, stuck with bits of egg. "Cooking."

Through squinted eyes, Selena made out the time on the wall-clock. "It's six-thirty!"

"What can I say? I'm an early-bird."

"The sun's not even up!"

He shrugged, turning back to the developing disaster on the stove. Giving it a clinical lift with the spatula, he flipped it over, revealing a flat blackened chunk of something that could have possibly been food at one time.

Trapinch gave an impressively wide yawn with her large jaws, then closed them. She let out a peep.

That caught Blitz's attention. He walked over and held out his hand for the little Pokémon to sniff at. Trapinch did so, though her interest seemed more captured by his array of braided bracelets than his scent.

"How old is she?" he asked. "Have you started her training?"

"She should evolve soon, I think." She watched Blitz carefully, still wary of him. He seemed calmer today, though that vulnerable expression was gone. "How's your back?"

"Fine," he said indifferently, rubbing Trapinch's head. "It only really hurts a lot."

Selena glared at him. "Why didn't you change the bandages?"

He gave her a sardonic look. "Yes, let me whip out my third and fourth arms to take care of that."

"Don't you have a Pokémon that could help?"

"Mm." He looked at her for a moment longer before returning to the stove and snapping the heat off. "The problem with Flying-types is their disappointing lack of hands. And feathers generally just won't cut it." He shrugged sarcastically. "That's what I've got you around for, isn't it? Or else what good are you?"

Selena stared at him incredulously for a moment, then returned to her room and slammed the door shut.

Inside, her team were riled up. Lairon, who generally never showed any sort of aggression, was up against the door, pressing her forehead against the wood, trying to open the door. Raichu perched on her back, stretching up to reach the doorknob, his tiny face pinched with malice. They both looked up when Selena walked in, Lairon shuffling awkwardly backward until she hit the wall.

Mightyena, who had taken up post at the window-seat, looked significantly disgruntled. Only Houndoom, half-buried in blankets and pillows, was still asleep. He looked up as Selena closed the door behind her, a small pillow caught between his curved horns.

Selena set Trapinch on the ground, where she scurried to Raichu's side, and got dressed. She hadn't unpacked her backpack yet, so everything was strewn around her on the floor. She grabbed a black shirt and a pair of jeans, pulled them on, then headed to the door again warily. Mightyena immediately pushed forward, pressing his nose against between the door and the frame.

"I'll let you out, but you have to promise not to attack him," Selena told him.

Mightyena looked annoyed again, his red eyes narrowing to slits.

"Promise," she repeated.

Huffing, he backed up and sat down. Looking up at her, he lifted a paw in agreement.

Selena took it, ruffling the thick fur between his ears. "Now you remember that," she told him. "Even if you want to bite him, you can't. And even if you want to claw that arrogant face of his into ribbons, you can't do that either. Even if he intrudes on your privacy, soaked and covered in blood, demands you to shelter him and change his bandages. And he also burns things in your kitchen."

Mightyena's eyes narrowed.

Frowning, Selena pulled his ears down over his eyes. "Don't look at me like that. This guy has got to go. We've allowed him to stay here one night, but he's not going to get more than that. I'm going to go out there and tell him to pack his stuff and get out."

Outside, Blitz had settled at the kitchen counter, leaning on his elbows and poking at his mess of a breakfast with his fork. He looked up as she walked over, then immediately cast his eyes back down.

Selena folded her arms against her chest, Mightyena curling his tail against her leg protectively. "We need to talk."

"I know," he said, surprisingly. "You're mad at me."

She blinked.

"I get that I'm not easy to get along with." He rubbed a hand against the back of his neck, under his shaggy hair. "And I think I hurt your feeling somehow, so… I'm sorry." He reached beneath the counter and handed her a plate. "I gave you the best part of it. See, it's not even that burned over on this side." He smiled tentatively.

Selena looked down at it. It had the shape of an omelet, even with a little cheese oozing out the side, but for the most part it was a dark brown color that was stiff and crunchy on the ends.

"I really do appreciate you letting me stay here," Blitz said. "I'll try to be nice. I know I can be a jerk sometimes. I'm not a very good person. But I'll try to be."

Selena just stared at him. "You're…serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" And now he sounded a little disgruntled. Picking at his food, he added, "I don't want to go back yet. I have a whole concert line set up for me. I wasn't even supposed to be gone today. There's a soundcheck tonight for a concert tomorrow. I was going to be gone until it was time for the tournament to start." He glanced up at her. "So it would be really nice if I could chill here. If you don't mind."

This close, she could see the rims of his yellow contacts. She wondered what color his eyes really were briefly before saying, "Won't that get me in trouble?"

He smiled, which did not help Selena to keep a clear focus. "Only if we get caught."

It turned out that the omelet was semi-edible, underneath a crust of burnt egg. Selena ate quickly, itching to get outside and into the woods to train.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Blitz asked, taking her plate from her and placing it in the sink. He seemed to be keeping his word to be on his best behavior, though with his laced fingers banded with thick silver rings, his unusual hair, and his yellow eyes, it was going to be very difficult to go anywhere with him without inciting a fan-driven riot.

"I want to go and try to catch a Pokémon," Selena said, surprising herself. "My team is too Dark-type centered. We need something else to balance it out."

"Like," he drew the word out, "a Flying-type?" Judging by the smile playing around his lips, Selena guessed he was excited by the prospect.

She thought for a moment. "Maybe," she said at last. "Or a Water-type. Water and Fire would work well together." _If I could get Houndoom to pay attention, _she added silently.

"Well, let's go. Flying types wake up early, so they should be around."

"The Conference rules say I'm not supposed to accept help," she said warily. "You're not trying to get me kicked out, are you?"

"The rules say you can't have 'outside' help. I'm _inside_ help. So it's not really the same. So can we go now? These walls are making my skin crawl." He toyed with one of his bracelets again, and Selena wondered if it was a nervous habit.

"I need to take Mightyena to a Pokémon Center first." She turned to look down at him. He was sitting on the ground, his shoulders hunched, and his nose was dry to the touch.

Blitz rolled his eyes. "You didn't even look in all the rooms, did you?" He tilted his head toward the door across the hall from the kitchen—the only one she hadn't inspected. Straightening up, Blitz walked over to it and threw open the door, holding out his arm like a butler.

Selena, after a shared glance with Mightyena, got up and peeked inside.

It was about the size of a walk-in closet, but the entire left wall was covered with shelf upon shelf of training materials— Pokéballs, chains, canisters of Pokémon treats and baits, nets, fishing hooks and rods, even a bike hanging off the wall. Directly in front of her was a stack of Pokémon beds in all different sizes, including a huge one that she imagined Lily's Swampert would fit on, as well as a round-topped machine about waist-high.

Blitz walked over to it and pushed a button. With a hissing release of air, the top came away, revealing six holes situated in a circle. Selena blinked; it looked exactly like the healing machines at Pokémon Centers.

"Now you just put the Pokéballs in and bam. Healed Pokémon." His eyes gleamed. "Go ahead and try it out."

It worked just like he said. She released Mightyena after it was over and he stretched his shoulder muscles, wagging his thick tail once in happiness.

"Good," Selena said, rubbing his ears.

Blitz gave Mightyena a wary look. "It's not going to bite me, is it?"

"Only if you provoke him," she snapped, laying thick emphasis on "him." "So don't do that."

"You let him just walk around loose all the time?" Blitz stuck his hand in his pockets and drew out a black cap, stuffing it down atop his messy dark hair. It didn't do much—barely even covering the braids and feathers—but it was better than nothing.

Ignoring his question, she said, "You shouldn't wear those contacts. They're too noticeable."

He grinned, pulling the bill of his hat down over his forehead. "Then I'll squint."

Repressing the desire to roll her eyes, Selena pushed the button for the elevator.

Thankfully, it was a different girl at the front desk. Selena waved to her as they passed by, but didn't stop to chat. At any rate, the clerk looked half-asleep, a cup of coffee steaming away in her hand and a droopy-looking Pachirisu draped around her shoulders like a blue-and-white scarf.

The sun was up, in fact, as Blitz and Selena made their way down the bricked steps and toward the lake. It was spilling orangey light across the ground, which was damp from the storm the previous night. The sky was filled with tattered gray clouds that looked promising for rain.

Blitz, rubbing the back of his neck again, said, "Flying-types will like to be in the trees. It's best if we look near the border of the lake. You might could catch a Wingull or something. I saw a flock of them yesterday."

"How could you see them?" Selena asked suspiciously. "It was dark when I found you."

"I could hear them," he corrected himself. "And really what does it matter? You want one, right?"

Selena bit her lip. "I don't know. I mean, I already have five Pokémon on my team now. When Trapinch evolves, that will give me a Flying type. Maybe I should go for another type…"

Blitz made an impatient noise in the back of his throat. "Well, hurry up and decide."

"Stop pressuring me," she snapped back. "These things take time. I'm not going to rush into getting a Pokémon that might not help my team out. Besides, it's like getting a new family member. You can't just catch any type of Pokémon. It has to work with the rest of the team."

But Blitz didn't seem to be listening. He was examining his fingernails with almost clinical interest. "Ah," he said vaguely.

Irritation pricked her like thorns. "Come on, bud," she said darkly, striding ahead of Blitz so quickly that he had to trot to keep up.

"Okay," Blitz said once he'd caught up, breathing hard as if he'd never run before. "Okay. Sorry. Bad again, right?" When she was silent he added, "You need to tell me when I do that. You keep getting mad at me."

"That's because you're saying stupid things! I don't have to take your crap, Blitz! You're lucky I'm letting you stay with me!"

"I know," he said, surprisingly again.

"So stop being a jerk!"

"That's the problem." Now he sounded annoyed. His eyebrows were furrowed over his eyes, which looked much less yellow out here in the half-light. "I can't tell if you don't point it out."

Selena scoffed. "You're so full of crap."

Blitz, still looking irritated, pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "This is exasperating."

_You're telling me, _Selena thought sardonically.

The lake was completely devoid of people—thankfully—and Pokémon—unfortunately. The sand, which had looked white and lacy from the windows of the hotel, was soft underfoot. The rippling surface of the water, brushed by the wind, was a beautiful dark blue, fading even darker the further out the lake stretched. A few bubbles lifted to the surface, making Selena wish she had brought the rod she'd found in her closet.

Mightyena leapt down the embankment toward the water. Nose nearly touching the water, he sniffed deeply. He turned and wagged his tail at Selena, making a low growl in his throat.

"Is he mad?" Blitz asked, arms folded across his chest. He looked cautious again.

Selena, reaching down to pull off her sneakers and socks, said, "No. He wants me to look at something." Rolling up the hem of her jeans until they were just below her knees, she skidded down the dune to where Mightyena was, now pointing with his nose at something on the ground.

Blitz followed, without taking off his expensive-looking boots. He sunk deeply into the sand, cursing low under his breath. Selena didn't bother trying to tell him it was better to take his shoes off than to have them fill with sand. It was as if he'd never been to a beach before.

Mightyena padded a few steps backward, sneezing the sand off of his red nose.

It was a set of four tracks, with tiny toes tipped with claws. They led up to the water and back twice before disappearing at the edge of the long grass that circled the lake.

Selena stared down at them without comprehension. "Shinx maybe?" she asked Mightyena.

"Starly," Blitz corrected her. She turned to stare at him. "What?" he asked defensively. "Flying-types, remember?"

_Oh, right, _she thought. _He did use a Skarmory in our battle. And Lily said that his concerts revolve around Flying-types._

"Well, a Starly is a Normal- and Flying-type," she reasoned, standing up and dusting her hands off on her jeans. "There's no point for that. I need an elemental Pokémon. That's what we came here for."

Blitz, who was picking bits of sand off his arms, didn't look too pressed. "You'll find one eventually," he said. "But enough of that for now. There's another reason I had you come out here with me."

_Of course. _"What is it?" Selena asked roughly. Mightyena, alerted by her change in tone, raised his hackles, moving to stand slightly between her and Blitz. "I've already helped you enough. You told me you would help me."

"I will," he assured her indifferently. "But I need some help, too. I have some stuff around here I need to collect, and I can't go get it myself. I figured you could give me a hand. And then I'll help you train."

"I'm not training today. I'm trying to catch a Pokémon. And you said you would help me catch a Flying-type."

Blitz rolled his eyes. "This is going in circles. I will help you. After you help me." When she didn't say anything, he added, "Come on. When have I lied to you?"

"You might not have lied but you've treated me like crap. I'm not your maid and I'm not your nurse. I'm not even your fan."

"I know!" Blitz snapped suddenly. "I already apologized, didn't I? This is really important, Selena." He winced a little as he said as if in an afterthought, "Please."

Selena looked away from his suddenly defenseless expression. It made her uncomfortable to see how quickly he switched between arrogant bravado and disarming vulnerability. But even more than that, it made her uncomfortable that she cared he did. Brushing her wavy dark hair back from her neck, she said, "You promise you'll help me train after that?"

Without even looking at him, she could hear the smile in his relieved voice when he said, "I promise."

Crossing her arms over her chest, Selena turned around and walked past him without looking at his face. "Good, then," she said lightly. "Let's go."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Blitz led the way into the woods, every leaf hanging heavily with water. In the trees above, Selena could see the beating wings of a cloud of Starly and Staravia, led by a single red-crested Staraptor. It flew down for a better look as they passed through its territory, giving Blitz a hard-eyed stare.

"Is that the one who got you?" Selena called to him. He was walking several steps ahead of her, his face turning rather pale in the growing light.

He looked up. "Maybe," he said. "Probably. He's looking for another piece of me, I guess."

His clammy complexion reminded her of the bandages he needed changed. She carried them in the backpack slung across her shoulders, but she didn't want to suggest he fix them yet. Not until he had found what he was looking for; he looked almost desperate now, ripping apart bushes and sending small Pokémon flying from his rough-handedness.

They reached a cluster of tall, thickly-leaved trees before he let out a sharp gasp. Nearly tripping over his own feet, he ran forward between the trunks of two trees, digging underneath a pile of dead leaves. "I was afraid I'd forgotten where I put you," he muttered, pulling out a long case and setting it on his lap. He flipped it open, revealing an acoustic guitar. It was made out of a golden wood that was as reflective as a mirror. Blitz set the case aside and pulled the guitar into his lap with a fluidity that came from years of practice. He ran expert fingers down the strings, adjusting the tension on the neck of the instrument until he was pleased. He looked up at Selena. "What?"

"A guitar?" she asked, astonished. "All this way for a guitar?"

"Hey," he said defensively, placing a protective hand on it. "Not just any guitar. This is my first one I got when I became a singer." He looked down at it, his eyes turning so soft. "It was right after my first concert. It was a rush—all fans screaming my name and singing along with the songs. It felt like they were going to shake the stage to pieces. And then some guy came walking backstage with this guitar. He told me that he wanted me to use his guitar, so that everyone would know Blitz Airborne played one of his guitars. He wanted _me_ to make _him_ famous." He stroked the strings again, raising a sweet-sounding chord. "I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that someone would need me to help him. No one needed me before." He seemed to snap out of whatever memory was clouding his eyes behind those yellow contacts, because he suddenly set the guitar back in the case and snapped it shut. "Anyway. Now it's going to be out of the rain."

Selena watched him shrug the case over his shoulder, taking up a backpack that was hidden in the leaf pile as well. That distance was back in his eyes again now as he looked at her, a cocky smile curving up one side of his face. This was the Blitz Airborne that he must present to the rest of the world.

He adjusted the strap of the guitar case. "Ready to go?"

Trying to cover the fact that she was so disarmed by him, Selena looked away and said, "I wanted to try and catch a Pokémon in here somewhere. There have to be some strong ones so deep in the woods."

"Mm." Blitz didn't sound completely indifferent this time. The reunion between him and his guitar must have put him in a good mood—or at least, one that was less irritable.

He kept one hand on his shoulder where the strap of the case lay as they wandered around the woods, stopping every so often for Selena to send out Raichu's keen nose to detect any type of Pokémon. Selena watched him out of the corner of her eye, waiting to see if he had completely dropped his guard again.

The softness in his eyes when he'd looked at his guitar… It had been beautiful.

Selena shook her head fiercely, trying to force the thoughts out of her head.

Raichu kept coming back with nothing. Selena fought back her irritation even as it stiffened her shoulders and made her gait shorter. Every little thing was beginning to get annoying to her—the calls of Starly just out of her reach, the vines that reached up to tangle her feet, Blitz's uneven steps plodding along behind her. It was all annoying.

Blitz seemed to pick up on this. "Alright?"

"No," she huffed. "It is not alright. We've been out here for hours and we don't have a single Pokémon to show for it. I want to catch one so I can get on with everything."

"Patience, right?" he needled, his grin turning arrogant again. "I mean, that's what you were saying earlier. You have to wait calmly to find the next perfect member of your little family."

Selena snapped her teeth shut with a click. "Shut up."

"Hey, I'm just saying what you told me."

"I meant it earlier when I was happier. Now I'm cold, wet, and miserable."

"That sounds tough," he said, mockingly sympathetic.

Selena whirled to face him, feeling anger rush hotly up her throat. He was standing with his head to one side, eyes half-lidded with an expression that meant trouble. "You know, you can just go on back to your concert line," she snapped. "I'm sure they'd love to have their frontman back! You don't need to keep following me around forever!"

"I don't want to go back. I'm totally content right here." His smirk widened. "Aren't you?"

"I won't even dignify that with an answer," she said coldly.

"Oh? What was that?" He put a hand against his ear. "I think that was an answer."

An irritated shriek came through Selena's teeth. Without thinking, and probably scaring Raichu out of his fur, she ripped her backpack off and flung it in Blitz's direction.

Without any effort at all, he sidestepped it. The backpack hit the tree behind him with a loud smack, rattling the Pokéballs inside, and making the entire tree quiver.

For a moment, there was nothing but Blitz and Selena's shared stunned silence and lazily falling leaves. Then something large and heavy fell from the branches, hitting the ground and rolling up to Selena's feet. Two yellow eyes blinked up at her from within a camouflage of leaves, and a corkscrew of grayish carapace dug out a little furrow in the ground.

"Burmy?" it asked nervously in a high-pitched nasally voice.

Without thinking, Selena's hand flew to her pocket, drew out a Pokéball, and flung it.

There was a flash of red light as the Pokémon entered the Pokéball. Three rolls later, the ball fell still. A flat tone filled the still forest air.

Selena went and picked it up, holding it in the flat of her hand. "I just caught a Burmy," she said slowly, still not quite understanding.

Blitz, on the other hand, looked rather delighted. "See? There you go. Mission accomplished. Now we can go back and you can make me something to eat. I'm starving." He turned and walked away, snapping his fingers for her to follow.

Selena resisted the urge to club him over the head with her new Burmy's Pokéball.

* * *

**Guuuuuuuuuuys, Glee's season finale is in half an hour. I'm gonna be so bummed if they end it on a cliffie. Seriously. I'm addicted to this show like a...like a...like an addict. XD**

**What can I say? I'm all out of similies. **

**I'm off to eat dinner. I'm staaaaaarved.**

**R&R~**

**Shadow**


	12. Chapter 12

**Heeeeey! I'm alive! I do write this still, just to let you know. But my Warriors fics always hold precedent at this point, and especially since the fic in question is almost over. XD**

**Fwirl - I do love the surprises. XD Like this one!**

**WildCroconaw - Yaaaaaaay! I do love Mothims, so it should be fun to write about one. Eventually!**

**Lightkit - I'm slaking my Glee-thirst by watching The Glee Project. It's actually really good!**

**Leafy Savanna Chan - Haha, I know, right? I had to fit it in there eventually - another Pokémon, that is - so Burmy's just as good as any other. XD**

**And onto the story!**

* * *

The first week passed uneventfully after Burmy's capture. He—for it was a male after all, the idea of having a Mothim already sending a trill of excitement through Selena—proved to be adjusting into the team well, despite his inability to move around very well. He balanced on the tips of his tiny stick feet, beady eyes fixed on his target. His moveset wasn't terribly varied—Bug Bite was the only attack that actually seemed to be effective. The idea of spread Mothim wings lurked just behind Selena's eyes whenever she looked at him; she had to remain patient just a few levels more.

Today it was hot. Selena had on a pair of jeans, rolled up to her knees, and a black tank top that was far too uncomfortably clingy in the heat. The humidity from the passing line of storms plastered the tiny strands of hair from her bangs against her face.

Lairon pushed rocks across the dusty ground, her heavy shoulders braced powerfully against the granite. They were made into huge squares, some rutted with holes from other trainers' work; one was even chipped, the rock burned to a blackened mess, from what could have been a Flamethrower attack or a Hyper Beam.

Lairon's thick, flat tongue hung out of her mouth as Selena called her to a stop.

"Good girl," Selena praised her, rubbing the steel ridges that covered her back. Unscrewing a bottle of water, Selena tipped it into Lairon's waiting mouth, scratching the rough skin on the Pokémon's throat.

Lairon had been getting stronger and stronger. Selena could feel the power in Lairon's movements when she attacked. It couldn't be much longer before she evolved.

It was getting closer every training session, Selena thought. Trapinch would be a Vibrava soon, Lairon an Aggron, and Burmy a Mothim. Everything was coming so close. It was exhilarating.

It was frightening.

She had tried to call her parents again just the day before. The phone had been in her hand, the number dialed. All she needed to do was hit send.

But she hadn't. At this moment, her phone was in her pocket. She could call them right now and tell them not to be worried, not to miss her. She was doing fine here by herself.

But of course, she couldn't do that. They had threatened her team. She couldn't allow them to be taken away from her.

The thought burned in the back of her mind like a lit ember. As if she didn't have enough problems already—stress from training, making a schedule, keeping her team healthy. Not to mention the combination top annoyance and curiosity in her life at the moment—Blitz Airborne.

He had continued to live in her suite at the hotel, though with an increasing level of irritation. By his own decision, he stayed constantly in the room, claiming instant recognition if he stepped foot out the door. Unfortunately for himself and Selena both, this made him highly hostile, snapping at everything. Being shut-in did nothing to settle his temper. He could only go out very early in the morning or late at night—both times when Selena was either sleeping or training—and for whatever reason, he refused to go by himself.

"Why would I go alone when I could have perfect company?" he asked slyly, with his usual flirtatiousness.

She had ignored him. "If you want to go, go. You're the one who won't go back to your concerts, remember?"

That had soured his momentary good-humor. Retreating to the security of his newly-rescued guitar, he had fallen silent save for the grating picking sound of the strings. She had promised she would be back in a few hours with something to eat, and left.

Pulling herself back to the present, Selena crumpled the water bottle in her fist, the crunching of plastic somehow satisfying, and opened another for Lairon. After Lairon had downed that one—and two more—Selena leaned against her back and stared out across the training grounds. At the very edge of the field, she could see Poppy working with her Buizel, asking it to use what looked like Double Team. Across from her, in the looser ground portion of the ground, Lily was trying out Swampert's Dig, sending streams of sand into the air. They caught in the breeze, carrying over and showering a trio of three boys, who were racing their Flying-types in the dry, wavy air: a Ninjask, a Honchkrow, and a Yanma.

She had met those boys before. Two were in her ranking, one in the juniors. They were a group of sorts, the same way that Selena and her friends were a group, but their attention to other trainers seemed almost malevolent at times.

The leader, the tall sandy-haired boy who owned the Ninjask, was named Cameron Philips. He was a little older than her—nineteen to her almost-eighteen—and everything about him screamed arrogant. His eyes, fixing on her as he bragged about his Ninjask's win, narrowed shrewdly as he made his way over to her, running a hand through his purposefully-tousled hair.

"Selena," he greeted lightly. His friends watched her silently from behind him.

"Hello, Cameron," she responded warily. Lairon leaned into her legs as she watched, too, but her eyes were fixed on where the Honchkrow and Yanma still circled above.

"I don't think you've met my friends," he went on, seemingly unaware of her tenseness. "Desoto"—he motioned to the Honchkrow-owner, a tall, slender black boy—"and Angel." Angel was a tan-skinned, black-haired boy with bright brown eyes. He was younger than the others—closer to Lily's age—and stood with less-sure posture, his head a little lower than Desoto's.

"Nice to meet you," he said, his voice soft.

Selena smiled tightly at him. "How's the training going today?"

"Fine. It's a little too hot out for much more than light training." Cameron rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand for effect. His eyes caught on Lairon. "Interesting choice. Is your whole team Steel-type?"

"No," she answered, a little too quickly and defensively, and she saw his eyebrows raise. "Lairon's my only Steel-type."

"Interesting," he said, though he didn't sound like he meant it. "Well, anyway. I wanted to know if you'd like to have a mock battle with me."

"A battle?" Selena's heart almost stopped in her chest at the immediate rush in adrenaline. "You're on."

"How about a double-battle?" Desoto suggested, a smile curving up higher on one side of his face. "You and that red-haired girl seem close. Why don't you call her over?" He cocked his head in Lily's direction, who looked up as if he had called her by name.

Seeing Selena close to the trio of boys, her eyes widened with suspicion. She recalled Swampert and hurried over as Selena waved at her.

"What's going on?" she asked, her voice cheerful, but her blue eyes were a little frosty.

"Double-battle. You in?" Cameron smiled down at her, a little too condescending for Selena's taste. He eyed her once more. "Two Pokémon each. If it faints, it's out."

"You're on." Selena whipped a Pokéball from her pocket, enlarging it to full size.

Cameron exchanged a grin with Desoto as they jogged back further, making a large enough space to pass for a battlefield. "Angel, you gonna ref for us?"

"Sure." Angel's Yanma had perched on his shoulders, its wings expanding out past Angel's back.

"Selena, I didn't know you were friends with them," Lily whispered as they took their places.

"I'm not. They're looking to scout out our teams."

Lily made a noise of surprise. "Then why did you agree?"

Selena grinned. The Pokéball in her hand was warm already from the sun's strong light. "Because I'm doing the same thing."

"Begin!" Angel called, his hands cupped around his mouth to make his words carry.

Ninjask and Honchkrow versus Swampert and Lairon. The battle began immediately.

Cameron cried, "Double Team!" at the same time Desoto said, "Wing Attack!" They took off immediately, Honchkrow soaring powerfully down the empty space in the middle of the field with Ninjask blinking in and out of focus above it, red-tipped wings clicking together.

"Lairon, dodge!" Selena called, but there was no need: both enemy Pokémon aimed right for Swampert.

Honchkrow, wings glowing white, slashed down Swampert's side quickly, making the Water-type recoil back just in time to be hit with Ninjask's Shadow Ball.

"Swampert!" Lily sounded like her heart was breaking.

Swampert, roused by his trainer's voice, shook himself off, arms coming up off the ground to protect his chest as Honchkrow struck again, even more powerfully this time.

"Lairon, get in there and use Metal Claw!" Selena, immediately caught off guard by the double-attack, watched as Lairon shoulder her way in, lashing out with sharply-tipped claws. She hit Honchkrow in the wing, making him stagger down to the ground, lift gone, and Swampert shot a glittering Ice Beam directly at it.

Honchkrow, letting out a cry of shock as its feathers iced over, creeping white crystals ghosting all the way up to its beak, before it simply fell over, its wings flipping up into the air as its chest crashed into the ground.

Looking distinctly disgruntled, Desoto recalled it in a flash of red light. Barely a second later, a Jolteon was on the field. It shook its fur, sticking up in radically spiky tufts, and turn its dark eyes on the opposite end of the field, zeroing in on Lairon.

"Crap," Selena muttered. "Lairon, get the Jolteon! Mud-Slap!"

Lairon lumbered forward, barely noticing Ninjask's attempted Leech Life, and stopped in the center of the ground, her shoulders and head lowered. With a dip of her head, she sent a huge mound of dirt flying directly at the Jolteon, coating it in a thick layer of grit and dry dirt.

Jolteon emerged from the pile with a delicate cough, its fur completely saturated with dirt. Its eyes darkened, sparks leaping between the tufts of its fur.

"Oh no," Selena heard Lily moan.

"Thunder!" Desoto cried triumphantly, and Jolteon took a step forward.

The air exploded. Selena could feel the static from the attack curling her sweaty hair, making it stand on end. She covered her face with her hands, looking between her fingers when everything fell silent again.

Swampert was still standing, completely untouched.

"Ha ha!" Lily let out a victorious cry. "Ground-type, Ground-type! I guess you forgot about that, huh?"

Cameron shot Desoto a dirty look. "How could you have forgotten that?" Selena saw his mouth frame the words. He raised one hand and sent Ninjask soaring, wings clicking, right at Lairon.

It slammed into her nose, making her squeeze her blue eyes shut, but still did practically no damage. Jolteon, on the other hand, was raring to go for another Thunder, its fur crackling with electricity.

Selena thought quickly. "Lairon, return!"

Cameron's shoulders straightened as Trapinch made her appearance. "Ninjask, Solar Beam!"

Ninjask drew into the air, its wings stilling for a moment. Its body began to glow white-hot, its form disappearing within the cloak of the brilliant light.

"Trapinch, Sandstorm!"

"Swampert, get the Jolteon! Mud Bomb!"

Everything started happening very quickly then.

Jolteon, dodging the first with agile paws, ducked below Swampert's Take Down, hitting a glancing blow off its shoulder. Trapinch, who had begun to whirl giddily at the prospect of battle, sent spinning throws of sand into the air, spreading like rolling mist until Selena couldn't see Lily standing barely five feet to her right, much less where the battle was taking place.

A burst of white light filled the air—the Hyper Beam. It hit the ground with enough strength to nearly send Selena to her knees. She covered her face as the shock wave coursed over her, tearing her hair from her loose ponytail and forcing her a step back. Trapinch's growly purr was filled with glee; clearly she hadn't been hit.

Cameron's muffled voice reached her over the howling storm: "Ninjask, return!"

Selena heard Lily's laugh. "No way they can see to get us! Keep it up, Swampert! Try another Mud Bomb!"

There was a roar in return from the Pokémon. The ground trembled beneath his weight as he threw himself forward, the twin ridges on his head rising above the storm for the merest second before he disappeared again.

A lacing burst of electricity sparked out of the cloud, buzzing and popping, but with two Ground-types, there was hardly any way for it to strike. Swampert's roar sounded again, and then it was one-on-two.

Desoto recalled the fainted Jolteon with resentment in his voice.

Cameron called, "Rain Dance!"

The storm, which Trapinch had kept going, turned into a shower of thick drops of mud. Selena ducked her head, trying to cover her face, as they fell down, plastering her face and the side of her neck. The ground, now turned soggy with the continuing downpour, turned into some kind of goopy quicksand that sank Selena's feet up to her ankles.

Cameron stood, cocking grin back, his hand extended to the Floatzel in front of him, half-crouched, rain catching along its orange fur.

"Aqua Jet."

With a blinding rush of speed, Floatzel gathered up a halo of water around it, almost skating on the ridges of water.

Trapinch had time to put her head to the side before it hit her.

"Trapinch!" Selena shouted, stumbling forward to where the battle began, but Lily grabbed her arm.

"It's dangerous," she whispered, but that didn't stop Selena from staring, eyes wide, looking for any trace of Trapinch, who suddenly seemed entirely too young to be participating in a battle.

Floatzel leapt back to Cameron's side as Trapinch, hidden in the muck, appeared. She managed to get to her tiny, stumpy feet before, with a dizzy peep, she fell over.

"Return," Selena called, bitter disappointment mixing with her relief that Trapinch was okay.

"Back to Lairon, huh?" Cameron grinned, resting an elbow on Floatzel's shoulder.

Narrowing her eyes and forcing back a sharp retort, Selena sent Lairon back out.

Cameron's grin widened.

"Swampert, Brick Break!"

Floatzel, gloating as much as its trainer, didn't notice Swampert until he was almost on top of it. Its smug expression vanished almost as quickly as its breath being knocked out of its lungs.

Lairon, getting riled up more than she usually did, roared, shaking the metal plates on her back. Startled by her sudden aggression, Selena called out, "Use Toxic!"

Swampert, who had been knocked to unconsciousness by Floatzel's well-placed Ice Beam, was replaced by Lily's newly-evolved Luxio. The Toxic hit Floatzel's chest at the same instant that Luxio struck with Thunder Fang.

Floatzel leapt back, its stamina still holding out, and stood in front of Cameron. One of its eyes pinched down in a wince, its chest heaving. The purple traces of Toxic clung to its creamy chest fur. With one last tremble, it fell forward, senseless.

"Return." Cameron was clearly unhappy.

"Back to Ninjask, huh?" Selena called out tauntingly.

Cameron's grin was missing now.

Ninjask went for Luxio first. It buried into the ground with a twist of its body, disappearing beneath the now-drying layer of mud.

Selena gritted her teeth. If only Lily had thrown a Flying-type, she could have used Earthquake and ended this whole battle. "Lairon, hold tight. When it reappears, use Rock Tomb."

Ninjask was clearly taking its time. Selena couldn't see a trace of it beneath the ground.

Lairon clearly did. Agitated in a way that Lairon never was, she paced the ground, stomping with her heavy paws, shaking her plates again, roaring. She shoved her face into the ground, as if trying to see Ninjask through the dirt.

For the first time, Selena noticed the other trainers had gathered around. At least ten or twelve of them, sweaty and sunburned, but curiously watching. She saw Jake and Poppy standing side-by-side—Poppy wearing a light cotton dress, Quilava at her side, and Jake pushing back his tangle of damp hair to scratch his head beneath his hat.

_So they want to see a good battle, huh? _Selena thought, a grin spreading across her face. _I'll show them a good battle._

There was an explosion as Ninjask swarmed up out of the ground. It hit Luxio squarely, knocking him back so hard that he hit the ground with a heavy thud.

Lily held out its Pokéball. "Return." She glanced over at Selena, grinning despite her disappointment. "It's all up to you."

Selena let out a little laugh. "I guess so."

Lairon roared at Ninjask. She stepped forward again, cutting a rut through the thick clinging mud, not even waiting for a command.

"Hang on!" Selena called, stunned.

But Lairon was moving quicker now. Ninjask sliced at her with Fury Cutter but she didn't even flinch. It blurred into a high-speed smudge, striking and flying and flitting around her almost imperceptibly.

"Lairon, wait! Not yet!"

But Lairon still wasn't listening. And half a second later, Selena realized why.

Lairon was glowing. White-hot light cocooned around her, shining off her steel plates, her blue eyes, until she was completely radiant. Her shape changed: shoulders hunching and expanding, her legs lengthening, strengthening, her head growing longer and skinnier, twin horns sprouting from her forehead, a powerful tail thudding heavily against the ground behind her.

With a roar, she straightened.

Selena gaped, a tingle of thrilled excitement racing down her spine.

Aggron, clenching her newly-formed and much more capable claws, roared, the sound much deeper than before.

There was a series of clicking sounds that Selena first thought was Ninjask attacking again before she saw the motion out of the corner of her eyes—the trainers watching had all pulled out their Pokédexes, holding the beams out to take in Aggron's information.

Selena did the same, exhilarated.

"_Aggron, the Iron Armor Pokémon. Its large horns aid it as it digs for iron ore. In the wild, Aggron claims a large mountain for itself and fiercely defend its territory."_

"Well well well." Cameron did not sound excited anymore. On the contrary, he looked rather annoyed. "That was good timing, wasn't it?"

Selena jabbed a finger at Ninjask. "Aggron, use Rock Tomb!"

Aggron, its heavy tail digging out a furrow behind it, obeyed instantly.

Ninjask didn't have a chance. The rocks hit it directly, sending it crumpled to the ground. Cameron withdrew it as the crowd clapped.

"That was great, Selena!" Lily hopped excitedly at her side, her hands clasped in front of her chest. "I can't believe it! An Aggron! Wow!"

Jake and Poppy had only just managed to force their way through the crowd to join them when Cameron and his friends showed up.

Cameron held out a hand. "Good job, Selena."

She took it, shaking briefly. "You too. It was a close battle."

"Yeah," Cameron agreed. "I would have surely won if Lairon hadn't evolved."

Selena felt herself frown. "Hardly. Aggron still knew how to use Rock Tomb as a Lairon. She could have still used it."

"Regardless," Cameron said, irritation sparking in Selena when she realized he had completely ignored her. "It was a good battle. Maybe we can do it again?"

"Maybe," she said coldly, already turning away. Over her shoulder, she saw the three of them standing close to where Aggron was playfully lording her new height over Poppy's Quilava. They looked interested.

Selena felt a stab of suspicion. This couldn't be more than a spar, could it?

Then she remembered Blitz up alone in her room, probably starving. Most likely complaining.

"Aggron!" Selena called, striding up to her new Pokémon. She had to crane her head back to look her in the face—she was almost seven feet tall now, though her hunched stance put her face a little above Selena's own. "You look _awesome._"

Aggron grumbled happily, accepting Selena's scratching with a content murmur. Her horns were thick as Selena's fist and sharpened to needlelike points. Selena ran her fingers over them, marveling, then said, "Time to go get some rest. You've earned it."

Aggron disappeared back inside her Pokéball and Selena turned to find her friends. They had all spread back out to their training again, except for Lily and Poppy, who were chattering excitedly.

"Hey!" Poppy said. "Great battle! I knew you'd win!"

"And Aggron is totally amazing," Lily gushed. "I couldn't believe it! I can't wait until my team evolves!"

Selena grinned. It was so nice to have friends like these, she thought. "It was a pretty tough battle. Aggron's going to be great for my team."

"You want to go get some lunch?" Poppy asked. "We were going to go find Jake and go to the hotel's restaurant."

Selena hesitated.

"U-unless you have somewhere else to be," Poppy said quickly, obviously uncomfortable.

"No," Selena said. "It's fine. Let's go." Blitz would be fine for a few moments more. After all, the room was full of little candy bars and bottles of water. He wouldn't starve to death.

The hotel was serving a lunch of seared and spice-coated prime rib with buttery mashed potatoes, a green salad with creamy dressing, and enough flaky bread to feed at least three people. Selena, mouth watering, ate until her stomach protested against anymore, washing it all down with blessedly cold lemonade.

Jake, who had out-eaten them all, pressed back his second helping. "Ah," he sighed blissfully. "They sure know how to treat a trainer here."

Lily was still picking at her bread, feeding bits to her Eevee Suzaku, who sat her lap. "I wish I got this kind of food all the time. At home, my brother generally makes us food out of a box. He tried to make grilled cheese once but we almost burned the house down."

Delicately setting down her fork, Poppy said, "I almost did that once when I had just gotten Quilava—Cyndaquil then. We were practicing Ember in my room and he caught the curtains on fire. My dad was not very happy."

"My dad did that when he was young," Jake said. "He loves to tell that story. Him and his Infernape tried to make cherries jubilee or something. You have to set it on fire for it to be tasty. He was trying to impress my mom."

"Did it work?" Selena asked.

Jake grinned. "How would I be here otherwise?"

They all laughed. After a hard day of training, this was really the best way to celebrate: good food, cold drinks, and friends' company. How had she never had friends before this?

The waiter came around to ask if they needed anything else—part of the competition gave them free food, so there was no need to ask for a check—and Selena started.

"Could I get another of these meals to go? With a drink too?" She felt a little guilty that she had forgotten Blitz as she'd sat here, chatting with friends. He really would be hungry by now—it was nearly four in the afternoon.

Lily looked surprised. "I thought you were full?"

Caught off guard, Selena said, "I…wanted to give it to Aggron. She worked really hard today. She deserves a treat."

Lily accepted this without any suspicion, which only made Selena feel worse. She was so trusting. Not that Selena was hiding anything, she thought firmly, saying goodbye as the food was brought out.

She made her way up the elevator alone—the others chose to stay and talk more—and got off on the tenth floor. Before she swiped her card down the plate to her room, she heard the low murmur of the television playing.

Inside, it was dark. The only light came from the TV, which she saw was set to the local news channel. Wrapped in a blanket, Blitz sat close to it, his eyes fixed on the screen raptly, his fingers picking quick and effortlessly against the strings of his guitar.

"Hey," she greeted him, getting nothing but a grunt in return. To her surprise, a Chatot was perched on the shoulder furthest away from her. It turned at the sound of her voice, its beak opening.

"Hey," it said, with her voice.

Blinking, Selena set down the food on the counter, coming around to where Blitz was watching. "What are you so fascinated about?"

On the television, the newscaster was saying, "—have any information on the possible kidnapping, please contact the number at the bottom of the screen. Please help us to bring Blitz Airborne home and reunite him with his friends and family."

Without looking away, Blitz said, "We have a problem."

* * *

**Dun dunnnnn! And the plot thickens! Or at least gets a little thicker. Like soup. Or stew. Or chowder. Clam chowder. Yummmm~ -drifts away on a hungry yet blissful cloud-**

**Now I'm gonna go find something to munch. XD**

**Ta!**

**R&R~**

**Shadow**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hiiiii~ It's been awhile, huh? It's so sad: this fic always falls to my mental back-burner, even though I genuinely enjoy writing it. I was thinking about implementing a once-a-week kind of schedule for it, like I have with my Warriors fic. I'll put some thought into it. XD**

**Onto the story~**

* * *

Selena just stared at the screen. After the announcement of his kidnapping, the news channel was showing a string of photographs, of Blitz wearing his rock star face. In this one, he leaned close to the camera, eyes closed, shouting into the microphone. One of his black-sneakered feet was lifted behind him, curling around his other calf. His face was sweaty from the lights glaring behind him, putting him half in shadow.

He was so good-looking it was disarming, captivating.

The picture changed before Selena quite realized what she'd thought. In this picture, Blitz lifted his hand in the air, his Skarmory circling above just out of reach, head sidelong, eyes on the camera. The background was a dazzling shimmer of gold and silver sparks. _BLITZ AIRBORNE: TONIGHT ONLY _was written below in thick, shimmering black letters.

The Blitz in the present, the one still picking at his guitar with something close to frenzy, said, "That was in Johto. We had a Johto tour."

Selena blinked. "We?"

Still not looking at her, he said, "Me and my group. I was—am—part of a singing group of sorts. We're all solo artists but we tour together, I guess. There's me, Jet Shadowbolt, and Cresta Wake."

_So it appears they're all getting their stage names from the same place, _Selena thought, almost gagging on the puns. "So I'm guessing they deal with Dark-and-Electric and then Water-types, huh?"

Blitz turned to look at her for the first time, his eyes shining darkly out from beneath the hood of the blanket. He squinted, as if not sure she was joking or not. "Yeah."

She sank down to his level, balancing on the balls of her feet. The two anchors were now debating the change in touring schedule. It seemed a little surreal, she thought as the pretty blonde anchor laughed at the man's joke, that they could be making light of a supposed kidnapping. Even if it were true, and it wasn't, it was certainly in poor taste.

Selena just bounced for a moment, trying to sort out what she wanted to say. "What are you going to do?" she asked him.

For a moment, he didn't say anything. His fingers were still plucking the strings in a fast-paced tempo, the clicks of the instrument blurring into a continuous stream of sound, more percussive than melodic. "I don't know," he said in a low voice.

"I don't know," his Chatot echoed.

He lifted a hand to it absently, the music coming to an abrupt end. It left no echo in the emptiness of the room. A lonely sound.

"I didn't know you had a Chatot," Selena said, trying for a subject change even though her mind was reeling from this latest development: Did this mean she was accessory to kidnapping now? Could she be sent to jail? Would she be tried as an adult? They couldn't possibly allow Pokémon in prison. Who would feed her team? Would they know not to feed Mightyena berry-flavored food? Because he hated berry-flavored food—

_Ridiculous, _she scolded herself. _Focus. _

The little blue Chatot stepped off onto Blitz's finger as he surveyed it with dull eyes. Blitz said, "He's like a little recorder. I play for him and he plays it back for me later, exactly like it sounded. It's kind of amazing." Looking at her, he held out his hand, holding out Chatot to her. His eyes were filled with a kind of lonesome desperation that made her heart squeeze.

_He must not have many friends, _she found herself thinking. _Being on the road that much—he probably doesn't know what it's like to have a normal talk with someone. _

Selena extended her wrist silently. Chatot stepped off of Blitz easily, wrapping his round talons around her skin. He turned his head this way and that, looking at Selena out of a single bright black eye.

"_Break me, break me, break me,"_ he sang, his voice not the high twitter of a Pokémon cry, but a boy's raspy low voice, almost growly. "_This is the end of who I used to be."_

"Hey." Blitz pinched Chatot's beak shut. "Not that one."

"Is that…is that one of your_ songs_?" Selena blinked. Now it all clicked into place. The voice Chatot was singing with was _Blitz's. _Selena had only heard him sing a few times on the radio or on Lily's Pokétch, but never in person. She assumed this was the closest she would get: Blitz didn't seem in the singing mood lately.

Blitz shrugged, trying to play it off. "Yeah. It's not released yet. I was supposed to sing it at the first opening on my latest tour." He shot a glare at Chatot. "I didn't want it repeated."

"Did you write it?"

He actually laughed, a hard humorless sound. "I don't write any of my own music. That's one of the only songs I've created myself, and I haven't played it to anyone yet. My manager doesn't allow it repeated."

"But you play guitar. You're the star. You should sing what you want."

"That doesn't mean they'll listen to what I say. My agents, my manager. They want me to sing all that pop-rock garbage." He drew his guitar back to him hungrily. "I hate it."

"Then quit," Selena suggested with her usual amount of tact.

He snorted. "I guess you missed the part where _I'm-a-freaking-rock-star. _I can whine all I want about the music but the truth is that people know my face and want to buy my music. I've got my own house. At age nineteen. And I bought it when I was seventeen. I have another that my parents live in. Do you know what an accomplishment that is? If I feel crappy about not singing songs I like, I can just go into my mansion and wipe away my tears with my big wads of money."

Selena frowned severely. "So I guess you're just going to ignore that?" she jabbed a finger at the television, now moved onto a Skitty rolling around in the snow. She felt foolish for a split-second as Blitz watched, his expression sarcastically interested. "What about the consequences of that?"

He strummed a dissonant chord, not really paying attention. Glaring up at her, he said, "What do you want me to do? Turn myself in? I already told you I would help you with this competition."

"If it's more important that your parents are thinking you're dead, you're off the hook with me."

"Like they really care I'm missing. They just miss their income. My parents don't work anymore when they can surf along on my money. Me gone just means that they're getting worried they won't be able to afford their hundred-dollar haircuts and silk sheets." His voice was filled with bitterness, genuine this time. A muscle in his jaw twitched.

It always startled her, moments like these. Moments where she could see the real Blitz shining through this hard mask. Moments where she could almost tell who he was. Where he seemed like a real person, not just this flashy, edgy rock star she'd seen on the news. He was so untouchable there. Here he seemed almost human, almost real. As if he was a normal nineteen year old boy. As if she could reach out and touch him herself, press away the lines of stress around the soft curve of his mouth.

But she kept that to herself, along with her growing conflicting thoughts about him.

Forcing that out of her mind, she demanded, "Don't you have anyone else? Friends? Aunts? Grandparents? A girlfriend?" The last one slipped out almost unconsciously, and Selena felt herself flush as a little of Blitz's sarcastic flirtatiousness crept into his expression.

And then he was back away from her again.

"No, no, no, and no," he said, ticking her questions off on his fingers, setting the guitar aside with effortless care. With his back turned, he said, "You're probably a bit relieved at that last one, aren't you, darling?"

"Don't call me that."

He blinked. "What?"

"Darling," she spat out. "It's degrading."

His smile was rather bland. "I call every girl that," he said carelessly, knocking his knuckles against the front of his guitar, making a hollow thump. "They're all the same. They all look the same to me. They wear the same expression. They all have the same face." He glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes. "Except for you. I've never met a girl who wasn't a fan of me."

"Then I guess you got lucky," she said darkly, turning on heel. She was furious, furious that he would lump her in with all his mindless fans. She wasn't another girl like that. She'd die before she found herself at a Blitz Airborne concert with a bunch of shrieking teenagers and their little sisters, wearing Blitz Airborne shirts and drinking Blitz Airborne soda out of Blitz Airborne souvenir cups.

Before she reached her door, she spun on heel and added aggressively, "I brought you food. You're welcome." She slammed the door shut.

Leaning back against it, her hand still on the doorknob, she let her head bump back against the wood, closing her eyes. She didn't understand why she was so upset. It wasn't like Blitz hadn't treated her like that before. She should be used to it. He was just stressed out, tired, worried, frantic. A rat in a cage. He didn't know what to do with this new situation and he was taking it out on her. That had to be it.

Or the other option that he was, to the core, a jerk. But that openness that happened in his expression every so often, right when he dropped his guard, seemed to contradict that.

She pushed herself away from the door, her hand flicking to her waist, catching Mightyena's Pokéball fluidly and releasing him.

As soon as he was fully-formed, she buried her face in his thick black ruff, losing herself in his comforting warmth. "I don't know what to do," she whispered to him.

Mightyena nuzzled her gently, growling that even tone, like a purr. He licked her elbow, the only bit of her he could reach at that point.

She drew back, holding his face in her hands. He looked quizzical, head to the side. So rough and wild. So much different than the way he used to be, a little Poochyena with over-sized paws and too much skin for his tiny body. Gray and soft like a baby rabbit. Now he was a living weapon, claws and fangs and dark coiled shadows hidden within him. And she loved him all the more for it.

Mightyena bumped his head against her side, lying down with a huffing sigh. He extended a paw and draped it over her foot, the pad of his foot rough.

Selena folded her arms around her knees and sat there in the cool darkness of her room: seething, unhappy, anxious. All the things she wanted to avoid from her old life.

But now they were all the more real, affecting someone she didn't even like. That much.

It was hard to admit, she thought darkly, how attracted she was to Blitz. He was handsome in that kind of cliché movie star way—hair that was disheveled in a way boys thought meant _I-don't-care-about-looks _but made girls want to run their fingers through it. He hadn't shaved in awhile so his cheeks had been bristly with scruffy stubble. The way that his cheekbones caught shadows and light made them seem angular from the side but more rounded and innocent from the front. Perhaps that was why all of his official pictures were sidelong. Trying to catch him from the razor's edge, the older him: his rock star face.

Selena closed her eyes against the image of him. She didn't want to think about him this much. She wanted to concentrate on battling, on winning, on why she came here.

But why did he keep hijacking her thoughts?

XXXXX

The next morning, after significant sleeping-in and avoidance, Selena had no choice but to come out of her room and end the ache in her stomach and chest. She emerged, hair smoothed back behind her shoulders and her face carefully blank. Mightyena walked at her heels, his back already arched and his hackles raised. His eyes fixed on where Blitz lay, still sleeping.

That got Selena's attention.

He was stretched completely across the couch, his long legs overhanging one of the arms. He had one hand on his chest and the other hand half-slung across the back of the couch. The front of his jacket had fallen open, revealing the stitched lining. Five Pokéballs were lovingly placed within the little pockets, their fronts labeled in tidy script. She couldn't see what they said from here except for the closest one: _Tropius. _

Selena leaned back, surveying him silently. His face was very relaxed, very peaceful. So unlike his waking self.

There were dark shadows beneath his eyes. He surely hadn't slept much the night before.

Selena pulled a sour face. She knew that she shouldn't wake him up, not now when he was just now getting rest. All her anger at him dissipated at once. Perhaps she was childish to be holding grudges against him but he was childish too. And despite her own acknowledgement of herself, she wasn't prepared to launch those feelings on another person.

So she carefully crept out the door and closed it gently behind her, making sure the door shut without a sound.

Mightyena let out a short growl of acknowledgement behind her.

"Selena?"

She froze, her hands still against the door, before slowly looking over her shoulder.

It was Lily, her pack over one shoulder, her dark red hair up in a ponytail. Today she was wearing shorts and a bright yellow tank top: clearly out for training. Luxio was at her heels, his tail wagging as he looked at Mightyena. Lily herself looked very surprised. "What are you doing?"

As Mightyena greeted her Luxio, Selena shifted her weight from foot to foot, trying and failing to look innocent. "My door's pretty squeaky," she said, off-hand. "I didn't want it to wake up anyone else."

"But these rooms are basically soundproof," Lily said slowly, a kind of dawning curiosity on her face. Her voice dropped to a whisper as she leaned in, her eyes very blue and very bright. "Are you hiding something?"

"No!"

"You are!" Far from being accusing, Lily sounded almost gleeful. "What is it? A forbidden Pokémon? Secret training equipment? Ooh, ooh! Or maybe you have contraband food! In that case, I would like some of it! We're not allowed to bring in sweets from the outside! I saw this sweetshop in Hearthome and I swear, somebody had to hold me back from tearing in there and—"

"It's not any of that," Selena said firmly—thankful that she could be truthful. "It's nothing, Lily. Nothing, alright?"

"Alright," she agreed, lacing her fingers behind her back and dancing forward a step. Her hair slid over her shoulder, hanging down her arm, as she asked, "You wanna go train with me? Me and Suzaku were about to go out and try some running. I bet he could beat Raichu in a race."

"I bet not!" A hot rush of adrenaline coasted through Selena's veins at the prospect of a challenge. Teasingly shoving Lily's shoulder, she said, "I bet I can race you down to the track!"

Letting out a little shocked gasp, Lily took off running for the elevator, and they fought to fit into it, shunting aside a rather affronted looking old man—Henry McLaughlin, the oldest member of the competition.

"Excuse me," he said, his tone making it clear he didn't mean the words at all.

Lily, turning from feisty to polite in a split-second, turned placating eyes on him. "I'm so sorry."

Henry blinked. His eyes softened. "Just be careful."

"We will!"

When Henry got out past them and the elevator began to descend, Selena let out a pent-up laugh.

"What a sneak! Switching personalities like that!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily said slyly.

At the bottom of the elevator, skipping breakfast for an early lunch, they ran into Cameron and his cronies. Selena let out a tiny groan as he spotted them, his eyes brightening. He got to his feet and practically strutted over to them, Desoto and Angel behind him.

"Good morning, Selena," he greeted, his smile seeming very much like a Sharpedo's. He turned to Lily with a passing glance then back to Selena, his smile widening. "How are you today?"

"Just dandy," Selena said dryly, feeling Lily bristle beside her. Clearly she did not appreciate the once-over.

Cameron and Desoto shared a loaded look before Cameron turned back, grinning his Sharpedo smile. "I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me."

"With _you_?" Selena felt floored. "Why would I want to do that?"

Angel snickered behind Cameron, whose face had turned a light red.

"Because I think we could benefit from more…interaction." He ran a hand through his hair. "After all, I'm going to win this thing. Don't you want to be able to say you were dating the guy who won?"

"Dating? Oh no," Selena said, her words coming from between clenched teeth. "No, that's not going to happen."

"Why not?" Now Cameron was beginning to look angry. Clearly her insults had finally reached the mark. His eyebrows narrowed. "Do you not like me?"

"Of course not. I don't even know you."

"So what a good reason to go out with me." He stepped closer—too close. Selena took a step back, watching him shrewdly. She felt Mightyena start to get uneasy at her side. _Cameron better be careful_, she thought. _Or he'll get a good feel for Mightyena's Bite. _"Come on. I'll buy you lunch."

"Lunch is free. And no thanks. I don't have any interest in dating you. Sorry."

"Shot down," Angel said, grinning.

Cameron turned on him, hissing something beneath his breath that sounded less than complementary. When he turned back to Selena, he was composed. For now. "Let me try again. Selena. Will you grace me with your presence for a meal?" His smile was brighter now, obviously feigned. "Please?"

She pretended to think for a moment, dropping her hand onto Mightyena's shoulders. He was growling, low and steady, like a motorboat. "No," she said, returning Cameron's smile. "But thanks for the offer. Come on, Lily."

Cameron's cheerful expression faltered but Selena turned away already, leading herself and Lily out into the training field.

Once Raichu and Suzaku were off on their race, the little Eevee leading by a few lengths, Selena said, "Was that too harsh?"

"Oh yeah," Lily said. "That ship sank real fast. Explosions on deck, multiple holes, on the bottom of the ocean. Called off the search. No survivors."

Selena winced. "It wasn't that bad," she tried, calling out for Raichu to make use of the ridge of land around the track. "I wouldn't date someone like him anyway. He's a creep."

"Yeah," Lily said, twisting the end of her dark red ponytail. "I don't like the way he bosses his friends around. Really uncool."

"And besides, he's arrogant. He didn't really ask me. He just told me I should go out with him." Irritation sparked along her skin. "I don't go for that kind of guy."

"What kind of guy then?" Lily looked up at her, mischief in her eyes. "What's your type?"

Selena laughed. "I don't have a type."

"You don't date?"

"Not yet. Boys don't usually like me."

"Because you're too awesome?" Lily asked very seriously.

That really made Selena laugh. "More like because I beat their teams up and make them cry like little girls."

Raichu passed Suzaku in the final lap, his dark paws light flashes of shadow. His eyes were narrowed as he ran, sparks flying from his orange coat. One caught against Suzaku's ash-pale coat and the Eevee yelped, twisting agilely in on himself to bat it out.

"No cheating!" Lily scolded, and Raichu's ears drooped. Both Pokémon ran up to them, their eyes gleaming, panting heavily from the strain and the heat.

Raichu scrambled up into Selena's arms. She could feel him breathing heavily as she buried her face in his fur. He smelled like burning wires: hot and coppery. He was almost too heavy to carry but she did anyway, just to show she was proud of him.

They walked further towards the lake, hoping it would be cooler there. "So what's your type, then?" Selena asked, trying for girl-talk. She'd never had to do it before—she hadn't had any female friends, or friends in general—so it was a bit of a strain.

Lily was eternally cheerful, though, so she made it easy. She sighed blissfully, putting her hands up to her cheeks like a love-struck schoolgirl. "The Blitz Airborne type. He's so handsome and funny and—Hey, are you okay?"

Selena had stumbled at the mention of his name. Her cheeks burning, she straightened and tried to look nonchalant. Raichu tugged at her jeans, looking concerned, but she just brushed a hand over his head.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. You were saying?"

Lily didn't have a problem with continuing. "I've been a fan of him for like two years. Since his first song. 'Heart of a Charizard.'" She pitched her voice low, dark and gritty, in a very decent imitation of Blitz's voice. "_Ooh, it's you, baby. Ooh, it's you. I've got a heart of a Charizard, baby, and it's burning for you." _

Selena laughed. "But that's terrible!"

Lily was teasingly defensive. "It was his first song! He was young! Young but talented." She sighed again, the sound delighted. "And now he's still young and talented but even more good-looking. Don't you think?"

"I don't know about that," Selena muttered.

"You two seemed to have hit it off during your audition, though." Lily's blue eyes were glittering. "Or am I mistaken? 'Cause I believe you were talking a lot about him then, weren't you."

Selena flushed at the memory. "I was just excited."

"Uh-huh. Sure."

Selena tossed her head. "It's true. And I'd rather not talk about Blitz anymore, anyway."

"On a first-name basis. That's cool." Lily's voice was edged with wit still. "You two must be really close."

_Like_ _you wouldn't believe, _Selena thought. Shaking away the thought of Blitz, she said, "Come on. Let's go." She led the way, racing alongside Raichu, trying to figure out the difference between interest and irritation.

* * *

**Sorry not a lot happened in this chapter. I'm still trying to get back into the swing of these characters. XD  
**

**On a sidenote, I'm not on the Tumblr, but I have no clue how to work it. I mean, the object of the whole thing seems pretty straightforward, but I always wonder if people think I'm weird because I follow them. And can you post fics there? Aaaahh! So confusing!**

**Anyway. On with your day/night/life. Thanks for spending a bit of it with me. XD**

**R&R~**

**Shadow**


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